


Phantom Limb

by Lacertae



Category: Homestuck
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - College/University, Alternate Universe - No Sburb Session, Alternate Universe - No Sgrub Session, Character Turned Into a Ghost, Dead Characters, Developing Relationship, Flushed Romance | Matesprits, Friends to Lovers, Ghosts, M/M, Moving On, Multi, Pale Romance | Moirallegiance, Past Relationship(s), Slow Build, Tea, ghostrezi, mixed universes
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2013-04-18
Updated: 2015-01-06
Packaged: 2017-12-08 21:29:38
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Major Character Death
Chapters: 8
Words: 51,546
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/766219
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lacertae/pseuds/Lacertae
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>*Dave/Karkat*</p><p>Karkat's life had turned into an inward spiral of familiar routine, where nothing much existed outside of courses and solitary movie nights.</p><p>Until he happens to bump into a stranger on his way to college, and time starts ticking again.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. 01

**Author's Note:**

> Title was offered by nice Introsquirrel on skype. Thank you sweetie ;^;
> 
> Slow moving, slow building relationship. Mention of past relationship. AU universe with a tea house and a patisserie involved.

**Chapter 01**

Karkat Vantas, 10 sweeps old, hated Mondays.

He hated the fact that the bus stop was always filled with bleary workers with bags under their eyes and kids of all ages dragging themselves to their school of choice, a cacophony of sounds that managed to overcome the music coming from his earphones, grating to his nerves.

He hated the smog, and the never-ending line of cars blocking every orifice and crevice of the roads, making it almost impossible to get to class on time, let alone _breathe_ ; the toxic fumes filled his nostrils, making his stomach churn in disgust, clenching around his lungs and suffocating him slowly with every step he took.

Thankfully he didn’t eat anything before leaving his communal hive, because otherwise his food would have a very intimate encounter with the ground somewhere between 3rd Avenue and 7th High Railway Road.

Karkat _never_ ate breakfast, because he also hated walking to class with food lodged between his teeth, crumbs all over his clothes and fingers sticky, but he conceded himself a cup of coffee, bitter like his mood, to start each and every day of the week.

He hated coffee, too, but it was the only way to keep him standing long enough to get to his morning class.

Karkat abhorred people speeding on the sidewalk and brushing past him, heads staring at the ground, looking like emotionless puppets moving with only the virtue of strings tied to their legs, but that had left the heads free to slouch forwards.

He disliked the taller trolls with wide, ample horns that didn’t care whether they hit others with them or not, and he disliked people slamming against him in their haste to hurry up towards whatever pointless excuse of a job they had.

He hated having to walk across the street, too, because the traffic lights turned green but the cars –damned contraptions– speeding the other way never seemed to want to slow down until it was too late… and even then, walkers had to rush to the other side of the street, or else end up having an intense, first-hand meeting with a fender.

Despite that, he had to make his way through the crowd without fail if he wanted to follow his courses at the local college, no matter his personal recriminations against people at large. Karkat needed to study if he wanted to make the ends meet later in life, and that was it.

Simple.

As such, Karkat took in stride the masses of people surrounding him, all in the same situation as he was, and walked with his head hung low, ignoring them as they ignored him.

Though not all of them did so.

Behind him was another figure, a female troll a few inches shorter than him, smiling and happily showing a row of dangerous teeth to the world, even though the world was merrily ignoring her presence, and the fact that her feet were so light on the asphalt that they never even touched it.

In fact, her whole body had a weird feeling to it, and it was probably the fact that it was see-through, thin and opaque, of such a texture that if any of the people around could see her, their eyes would find it hard to focus on her figure, the contours blurring into the air.

The only thing that wasn’t evanescent of her were her shades, crimson lens that looked to the eye almost tangible and more real than the rest of her presence, and behind them, open wide but glossy and dead –deader than her, at any rate– a pair of dull, red eyes.

Karkat himself was also unaware of her presence, though the troll was clearly following him, trailing behind him step by step, not caring whenever a person stepped right through her, as unfeeling as she was to the things of the living world, more focused on the troll stomping down the street to care about others to begin with.

His thoughts were still fixed on the same, familiar pattern of  sleepy dislike, unhinged by the unseen presence.

Every day was mostly the same –or at least, every day he had class early in the morning– but Mondays were worse because he’d spend the weekend resting and relaxing at his hive, drinking sugary beverages and eating unhealthy, junk confectionaries, and having to return to the outside world after that was always hard.

Karkat Vantas really _hated_ Mondays.

Musing blasting in his auricular sponge clots, trying and failing to overwhelm the vexing noises of a group of younger scholars at his side, waiting with him for the traffic lights to turn green, Karkat tried to muster up the energy to care about the three-hours period he was going to, but it was hard.

Mornings were hard.

Life was hard.

Hard as fuck.

The troops on both sides of the crosswalk converged in the middle of the road, hastily making their way to the other end, bumping against each other, troll with human and human with troll, grey and brown and pink and olive and reddish mixing into a blur of colours, then dividing, individuals turning into a crowd then back to being individuals, never even glancing at each other.

Karkat’s even pace slowed only for a moment when he found himself in front of the door of a patisserie, the delicious, thick scent of croissants wafting towards him in a misty vapour, enticing his senses enough that he halted, glancing through the window to catch sight of the rows of sweets inside.

He didn’t really have time to enter the shop and purchase something, but the smells were addicting, and they lifted some of his bad mood as he peered inside, eyes travelling from one mouth-watering pastry to the next.

“Excuse me,” the voice was low and monotone, coming from behind him, and Karkat was shaken out of his enthralled trance, realising he’d been standing in front of the door for quite a while.

He hastily moved to the side, taking a few steps back, but the stranger didn’t move.

He was tall, though Karkat was taller by a few inches, and was wearing a pair of dark, large shades that completely hid his eyes from the world. Even with them on, Karkat was able to infer that he was probably around his age.

The human had both hands secured into the pockets of his coat, an ugly, maroon thing that even Karkat, lacking any sort of fashion sense, would have never tried on himself, and a bag loosely held under his arm; his head was tilted towards him, in such a way that Karkat was sure he was looking right at him.

The staring continued for enough time that Karkat started feeling extremely uneasy under the scrutiny, unable to see the guy’s eyes to confirm the thought but pretty sure the guy was actually glaring at him; he felt his good mood evaporate due to the silent examination, annoyance quickly overtaking his awkwardness.

Baring his teeth instinctively, his frown deepening, Karkat returned the glare with one of his own.

“What are you looking at?” defensive tone, shoulders hunched slightly, as if expecting the human to physically retaliate, even though he knew it wouldn’t happen, Karkat tilted his chin up, showing he was unafraid and ready to engage in a verbal fight, if things came down to it.

“This street here’s free territory, I’m allowed to look at whatever I want to,” the stranger drawled on, shrugging as he finally spoke up. “Wasn’t looking at you specifically, though, so take a chill pill alright?” his lips twitched upwards in a smirk.

Incensed at the guy’s attitude, but not willing to put up with his irritating presence, Karkat grunted a half-hearted “fuck you,” and left the delicious smells of the pastry shop to stomp his way down the street, resuming his walk towards his campus.

It wouldn’t do to let such a discomforting encounter ruin his mood further, after all.

Karkat turned a corner and side-stepped as an elderly lady shakily made her way in the opposite direction, muttering under her breath words he didn’t hear.

The fluttering, incorporeal troll still following him didn’t need to avoid the woman, passing right through her, her attention leaving Karkat for only a moment, glassy eyes flicking back to the figure of the human, who had shaken himself out of his staring and was entering the pastry shop.

Looking forwards again, the ghostly figure continued trailing after Karkat, familiar and at ease with the pace and already knowing where he was going.

The university campus appeared in front of him as soon as Karkat turned another corner, the suffocating sea of people trickling down to a more tolerable stream, mostly composed by students like him with a few adults here and there; Karkat hurried up some more, checking the watch on his wrist, surprised to see that for once, he might actually make it with only ten minutes of delay.

His fast pace turned into a mild jog, grunting at the few people waving at him as he passed by, and reached the lecture hall in record time, breath coming out in shallow gasps as he pushed the door open.

It didn’t bulge.

Blinking in surprise, his frown deepening when a stronger push didn’t have any result, Karkat stepped backwards, looking around with a lost, confused expression.

“You here for Mathias Lodge’s lesson on Troll Hemotriarchy?”

Karkat turned around, staring at the short human with ruffled hair standing behind him, a pile of books in both hands, and grunted an affirmative.

“Professor’s sick,” the guy stated, shrugging with a sheepish smile. “He left a note over at the Information Point, all classes have been cancelled until unknown date”.

“Holy mother of all that is fuck,” words tumbled out of Karkat’s lips before he could think better of it. “And instead of being a sensible living being, which is apparently far too much to ask of a person whose sadistic tendencies only come out in the amount of additional work he commissions to us poor, masochistic souls following his course, and sending everybody a fucking mail, he drops. A fucking. _Note_ ,” he tilted his head to the building on the other side of the campus, where the Information Point was, “ _Over_ _there_. What a rotting–”

The human in front of him snickered, interrupting the litany of expletives, and Karkat’s lips snapped shut, feeling slightly silly for his loud outburst.

“Since you don’t know about his cyclical sickness it means you just started the course this semester, right?” the guy snorted, pointing his thumb over at the closed classroom. “It’s not uncommon if one knows where to check. Also, he fills up the blanks by leaving homework on his webpage”.

“Oh, of course,” with a defeated groan, Karkat slumped slightly and turned fully around. “Thank you,” he stated, shaking his head slightly. “You also following his lessons?”

The lesson on ‘History of Hemospectrum and its importance in the ascend and descend of Troll Empire before and after the Third Major Troll War’ (shortened into ‘History of Troll Hemotriarchy’ by most non-troll students) was actually a pretty interesting course, and it was hard to find an empty seat, so it wouldn’t be surprising they’d been following the same course without knowing.

The human shook his head slightly.

“I tried taking it last semester but it was impossible, it clashed with my other classes so I dropped out just a few weeks ago, haha,” he scratched the back of his neck, then pushed his glasses up his nose. “Well I’m off to my class, see you around!”

With a happy wave, the nameless guy skipped merrily away, leaving Karkat in front of his class door, unsure whether to feel annoyed at the guy’s cheerful disposal on a Monday morning, or actually grateful he’d taken the time to stop and tell him about his missing class.

He decided to stay largely on the grateful side, if only because it would be a waste of precious energy to get annoyed at someone who was already gone, and simply turned on his heels and marched out of the campus.

Suddenly free of his daily class, left free to roam the wide, spacious world of the city in a morning he would have more than happily spent in his recuperacoon sleeping, Karkat felt all the loathing inside his thoracic cavity melt into a grey, thick sludge that slumped on the bottom of his stomach.

He felt tired all of sudden, and in dire need of another coffee, if only to make sure he didn’t fall asleep on the metro.

The female troll, as yet still unnamed, continued following him, twirling a few inches from the ground, apparently amused with his attitude and grinning at the colourful words he’d used.

The trip to the closest Starbucks didn’t take much, and Karkat left the shop with a cup of brown liquid, mixed with enough sugar and cream to completely nullify the already watered down caffeine of the beverage.

With nowhere else to go, Karkat retraced his own footsteps home, sipping the coffee every few steps, until he found himself standing once again in front of the pastry shop from before, and there, surrounded and mellowed once more by the fragrant scents of confectionaries, he halted again.

As he didn’t really need to rush this time, nothing waiting at his hive but his own solitude, a computer and his romcom DVDs, he lingered there for a second of two, deliberating whether to enter or not, and then nodded to himself, opening the door with a determined push.

The bells attached on top of the door chimed at his entrance, the door sliding shut behind his shoulders, a whiff of warm air surrounding him as he breathed in the delicious scents, even more penetrant now that he was inside; the troll ghost, not at all impeded by barriers such as walls and closed doors, passed right through the window pane, smiling at the scents that she could also taste by breathing them deeply into her senses, and returned to Karkat’s side like an unmoving, dutiful guard.

Busy as he was perusing the various sweets he had in front of him on the front counter, Karkat only lifted his head when he heard the clerk shuffle towards him.

“Good morning,” he started, clearing his throat, one finger already pointed towards his sweet of choice. “I’d like one of–”

His words trailed off when he came face to face with a familiar visage, a pair of big, black shades covering half of it and surrounded by pale blond hair.

“ _You_ ,” he hissed, unable to stop the low, soft rumbling of his throat at the sight.

It was the guy he’d met earlier, who’d stared unashamedly at him, hiding his eyes behind those stupid as fuck shades.

 “Good morning,” the guy, now lacking his unfashionable coat and donning a red and white t-shirt, but still wearing the shades (who the fuck wore shades inside a building anyway?) looked at him without expression, his lips set in a thin line. “Welcome to Crocker’s Pastries, what can I get you?”

Cheeks turning a darker grey, annoyed by the guy’s nonchalant attitude, felt his anger spike. He sneered despite himself. “Maybe an apology would be a good way to sweeten my day,” he stated.

The human rapped his fingers on the counter, shrugging. “I already said I wasn’t ogling you, though, man, so why don’t you drop it and just order what you want?”

As it was, Karkat truly _wasn’t_ a people person. His socialization skills amounted to a handful of trusted friends, and as such he was easily flustered when he had to confront people in public places.

This person was sort of infuriating, and Karkat, despite having had coffee, was still annoyed at having had to leave his hive in the first place, and he _really_ disliked being stared at, especially by strangers.

He didn’t look like much, he knew it, with stubby horns and messy hair, but he was still self-conscious, disliking when attention was shifted to him all of sudden; that was a strong reminder of his earlier childhood, stemming from his prominent fear of being culled by the system for having a mutated gene in his blood.

Karkat had been born, much to his dislike (as it was bound to be a complication when your own existence was fought against), with blood of a colour that only humans (and a single other troll in the history of _ever_ ) shared –a bright red.

Troll culture wasn’t nice on genetic mishaps, and Karkat had survived to his tenth sweep only thanks to having a highblooded moirail, and to his own skills at keeping a very low appearance all the time.

As such, when Karkat felt the eyes of the other clients around him on his back he cringed, disliking their curiosity, instinctively feeling the need to lash out.

“Maybe I don’t quite want to order from a place that hires someone who so freely gawks at complete strangers on the street for more time than it is sensible to do,” he grunted. “I thought that would be quite fucking _rude_ ”.

There, the edge of the human’s mouth twisted in a displeased frown, and Karkat felt somewhat vindicated.

“Then I have to ask you to get out of here,” tense, thick, the human’s tone was altered, but still calm as he pointed him to the door. “I told you once, man, I wasn’t looking at you, and now you’re here making a mess while I’m working, the uncouth one isn’t being _me_ ”.

Karkat felt the flush on his cheeks turn darker, customers around him whispering and pointing, and didn’t have to be told twice; with a flourish he spun around, pushing the mix of anger and shame down into his guts, and stomped out of the pastry shop, briskly walking down the street.

He waited until he’d put a corner between himself and the shop before sagging against the wall, cheeks still darkened in shame.

Instantly, regret hit his stomach like lead, and Karkat slapped his hand to his face, groaning at his own sheer, astounding _stupidity_.

He’d made a fool out of himself, and with fresh air hitting his face, cooling his anger down again, the remains of his coffee growing cold in his hand, the previous bout of rage felt useless, and unwanted.

 _‘Fuck,’_ he thought, overwhelmed with a complex mix of guilt and shame, _‘I’m really an asshole, huh’_.

Even if the guy with the shades looked like an absurd tool, that didn’t mean he could just attack him for things he couldn’t prove –and in truth, Karkat had to admit it, the guy had been adamantly negating his accusations, so maybe…

Still, with such an exaggerated reaction, Karkat had proved to be the unreasonable one.

Was his belief that the guy had been watching him enough to justify being chased out of a shop in the first place?

Karkat Vantas, 10 sweeps old, was feeling like a complete asshole, and unfortunately for him, he also felt guilty enough that if he went home now, he would still feel like shit for the rest of the day.

He hesitated, back pressed against the cold wall, and carefully weighted his actions and their consequences, nails tapping mindlessly against the bricks, eyes trailing upwards to watch the greyish sky.

There weren’t many options that he could safely pick, not when he’d just offended a random stranger with his own idiosyncrasies, and the idea of going back inside the pastry shop wasn’t appealing in the least.

Even if he hadn’t been busy cursing at himself as he was, he would have still being unable to notice that the ghost troll was snorting at him; she fluttered close, circling him and snickering, the sound barely a soft huff in the air, lost in the wall between her reality and that of Karkat. Her feet touched the ground and she hummed, slouching forwards until she could _almost_ touch him.

“Still the same,” she murmured, her voice echoing strangely in the air, and full of warmth. “ _But_ you have been unfair, Karkat,” she continued, her mellowed features sharpening again in a dangerous smirk. “What to do, hmmm?”

Karkat abruptly looked up, and the other troll pulled back slightly, dull eyes growing wide, even though she was sure he couldn’t hear, nor see, her. In fact, Karkat had just reached a decision regarding his poor attitude, and when looking up all he could see were the waves of people walking the streets and the cars honking whenever the ones preceding them seemed to slow down too much.

There was, for all he could see, no troll standing close to him, observing him carefully.

Straightening his back, Karkat swiftly moved down the street, a troll on a mission, chin held high and flush quickly disappearing behind the usual pale grey of his skin. Soon enough he’d grabbed another coffee cup from the Starbucks, the fanciest thing he could find, and holding it close to his chest, he stomped back towards the pastry shop, only to pause and shuffle awkwardly in front of it, teetering close to the window pane just out of sight, so that he could peer inside, but have nobody inside see him in exchange.

Karkat glanced down at the cold treat he was holding in his hand, feeling more like an embarrassed, pathetic grub rather than an adult troll; then again, he had to admit that there weren’t many times he felt he could call himself an adult and do it righteously.

Unable to enter the shop again, plagued by embarrassment as he was, but also not wanting to waste the Starbucks cup now that he’d spent money on it, Karkat spent the following few minutes cursing at himself, colourful words only half-muttered in righteous anger, making passers-by turn to look at him, only to hasten up their pace.

Karkat was shaken out of his mumbling fit when, after the door was pushed open and the bells chimed softly, a figure stopped closer to him, suddenly invading his personal space.

Looking up, Karkat paled slightly at the sight of the human wearing shades standing inches from him, hands again nested in the depths of his ugly coat, and Karkat noticed a single eyebrow rising above the line of his shades, as pale as his hair.

“You accuse me of staring at you, and then you stick around the shop after throwing a prima donna show in there,” the guy’s tone, although containing a light shade of annoyance, was mostly amused. “Did you maybe fall in love with me at first sight, or something?”

Cheeks shifting abruptly from pale to flushed, Karkat straightened his back, the guy’s words striking a chord inside. “Of fucking course not, that’s just an enormous pile of bullshit rolling from your mouth! If you ignoramus want to keep on deluding your horrid self about that, then–” he suddenly stopped, mouth hanging open for a second as he realised he’d been about to let his own mouth run along again.

Clamping his mouth shut with a small click, swallowing in shame, Karkat shifted away from the human, wanting to keep some distance; his hands tightened instinctively around the Starbucks coffee and he was reminded of what he was doing there, and how it had by no means anything to do with getting angry again. Quite the opposite.

“Here,” he grunted out.

He shoved the coffee into the human’s chest, surprising him, and watched him look down, clearly wondering what this was about.

“Wait,” pushing his shades up his nose with one hand, the guy tilted his head towards Karkat’s face. “You remained standing outside the shop for over an hour just to give me _this_?”

“I accused you wrongly and I am a sorry excuse of a troll,” Karkat hissed, cheeks still flushed a dark grey. “And I humbly _apologize_ to you”.

There was a long silence, in which the human simply stared at him, and Karkat wondered, idly, if this would make the guy think he was crazy. And yet, Karkat believed that he was in the wrong, and as such he needed to offer a proper apology, as he was doing.

Came what might, Karkat would feel much better now.

What happened was, much to Karkat’s utter shame, that the human snorted softly, his lips pointing upwards in a smile before he covered it with his hand, a soft breathy laughter quickly suffocated by his fingers.

“You’re something else, really,” having calmed down, laughter gone just as quickly as it had appeared, the human held out his hand and slid the Starbucks cup out of Karkat’s fingers. “Ok, apology accepted, we’re tight as bros now, all is forgotten, but let me just comment on your bad choice of coffee, like…” he shook the cup slightly, listening to the sound of liquid sloshing inside the plastic, “this here is no drink. No wonder you’re so touchy, holy fuck, ain’t no way to start a day, this shit is nasty as fuck”.

Karkat, flush long since forgotten, openly gaped at the human, who’d just moved from accepting his apology gift to downright insulting his choice in coffee.

A part of him wanted to feel annoyance, to muster up the energy to tell the fucker off and stomp back home, feeling at least content with knowing he’d managed to settle the dispute and apologize to him, but…

He snorted softly, unable to stop himself.

“You…” he opened his mouth, then once again paused.

He didn’t even know the guy’s name, and that abruptly made him stop smiling; although his idiocy was honestly embarrassing enough on its own, and he was fairly sure the guy was just letting his mouth run for the sake of dispelling the cloud of awkwardness around them, this was still a random stranger he’d insulted gratuitously.

A sort of annoying, weird tool with oversized shades and an ugly coat.

Why was this amusing, again?

“Dave,” apparently unperturbed by Karkat’s sudden silence, the human offered the troll a fist, and Karkat stared at it before looking up at his face, confusion depicted all over his visage. “Dave Strider,” the human continued.

Karkat’s confusion cleared slightly, but there was still the matter of the offered fist.

“Uuh…”

“You’re supposed to bump it man,” the human called Dave snorted. “Are you sure you live in this century?”

“Excuse me?!”

“C’mon, don’t let me hangin’ there, man, that’s unfair!” Dave pushed his fist forwards, and Karkat watched it with wide eyes, wondering if he’d made a mistake in waiting out of the pastry shop for a guy such as this one.

He didn’t _look_ crazy, and he was sure no shop would hire someone _crazy_ , and yet…

With some hesitation clearly shown on his face, Karkat extended his hand, forming a fist, and Dave bumped his own fist against it, just a bare contact before retreating.

“There, all done,” he smirked, looking like he’d just done a good deed, and Karkat couldn’t help but snort again.

“You are weird,” he found himself declaring.

His words, though that hadn’t been his intention, seemed to actually please the quirky human called Dave, because his smirk grew slightly bigger in reply.

“Ok, that done, let’s trash this shit,” without mercy, Dave turned to the side, located the nearby trash bin, covered in graffiti and ad stickers, and promptly threw the Starbucks coffee into it.

“What the fuck?!” Karkat surged forwards, rushing to the trash bin, unable to touch it –fear of infection through litter would be a very obtuse, miserable way to die– and then spun around, glaring at the human. “I bought that for you! As an _apology_!”

“I’ll just ignore the fact that ‘as an apology’ you wanted to poison me with bad coffee, but I will be magnanimous and forgive you anyway, because you didn’t know better,” the human seemed on a roll, completely ignoring how he’d just sort of insulted Karkat. “So… uh,” he paused, tilting his head and managing to look expectant even though the troll couldn’t see his eyes. “You have yet to give me your name”.

“Karkat. Karkat Vantas,” the troll grunted out.

This human was really something else.

“Well then, Karkat! Let me show you what a real coffee tastes like!”

That said, with a swift, fluid move, Dave turned around and moved down the street, only pausing a split second to look above his shoulder at the still motionless troll.

“You coming or not, Vantas?”

Frozen in place near the window pane of the pastry shop, completely taken aback and glancing back and forth from the weird human to the trash bin that now contained his peace offer, Karkat allowed himself a split moment to think.

This here, was something he wasn’t prepared of. Every part of him, like a single entity, was chorusing in confusion, unsure whether to take a step towards the human, or let go, turn around, and return to his normal life.

He wasn’t sure, in all honesty, what this guy, this Dave Strider, wanted from him, weird and quirky and so easily forgiving.

“What the hell,” he huffed out, throat clicking to echo his distress.

“You wouldn’t ignore me, would you,” with a mocking expression of sadness, only visible around those shades, Dave pursed his lips. “You already caused me so much distress, taking out your anger on me in the shop…”

“I can’t believe you’re using that against me!” Karkat’s emotions were having a hard time keeping up with the human, too, moving from anger to amusement, and once again back to anger, like a pendulum swing.

Dave shrugged instantly, not even missing a beat, “nah man, I’m kidding. But you seriously need to find yourself a better dealer, ‘cause Starbucks can be all shiny and nifty but it got nothing on a good cup of strong coffee, d’ya get me?”

With a soft, defeated groan, Karkat abandoned all at once his previous prospects of a nice, calm morning at home, buried in his pile with junk food and maybe a good romcom, to follow a stranger down the street.

He was probably teetering towards insanity, or maybe he’d already fallen head first into it, welcoming the craziness into his open arms, mindless and stubborn, but as it was…

Karkat didn’t have quite much to lose, wasn’t that right?

Fluttering in the air, light steps bringing her to follow them, the unnamed troll ghost grinned, crossing her fingers behind her back, and emitted a soft, contented sound from her throat.

“I _like_ you,” she breathed in the air to the human, floating down until she was at Dave’s side, keeping his pace in front of Karkat and turning around, delicate and transparent, to look at the troll who was following them.

His head tilted towards Karkat, who was approaching him quickly, stormy expression of uneasiness taking up all the space on his face, Dave conceded himself a small, amused smirk.

 


	2. Chapter 02

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And here we go, a new chapter. :D Please enjoy, and if you don't mind, drop a comment! <3 it'd make me happy :3

**Chapter 02**

Dave Strider, 22 years old, enjoyed working for Croker’s Pastries.

While that was by no means the job of his life, as it wasn’t even remotely connected to the things he was interested into, or the things he would love to get paid for, he honestly _liked_ it.

He only worked there in the mornings, and mostly out of obligation, as the owner was his brother’s best friend, but that didn’t diminish his willingness to wake up early to get there; Jane Crocker, owner of the shop and one of the bakers, had been in trouble when one of her workers had fallen victim of a resistant, persistent flu, leaving her shop unattended, and Dave, at the time searching for a part-time job to fill up some time between lessons, had jumped on the opportunity with glee.

Part of the reason Dave had been so eager to help out, other than putting aside some money for his everyday expenses, was that he would be able to poke fun at his best friend, who had against the name Crocker quite a grudge –even though, and that was half of the irony for Dave, Jane had nothing to do with the large empire of Crocker Corp, aside for sharing the surname with the much renown baking logo.

In fact, Jane always seemed to deny, quite viciously, any correlation between herself, humble girl, and the massive, rich empire of miss Crocker, and if nothing else, Dave could admire her skills at finding ways to avoid the subject.

As it was, though, the job came at the right moment, and Dave had no hardships at inserting himself in the world of work.

His job was to serve the customers and be the cashier –thing that was easy for him, as math unravelled itself in front of him like a lover would to capable, expert hands, and Jane had instantly dropped the reins on him, as she had no qualms admitting her own skills at accountancy were abysmal.

Dave, with not many expectations for a job he’d done out of a simple whim, had found himself taken by the slow pace and the familiar, returning faces of the customers, breathing in the scents of the sweets surrounding him, a good start for his days before he had to leave for his university courses.

He wasn’t one to settle down, far too vocal, too shifty to be able to find roots that could stop him, and every time he left the shop he would find himself rushing back into his hurried life, as if time had momentarily stopped for a while, enough that he could enjoy his job, before reclaiming his attention.

Dave’s attraction was centred on music, on spoken words, on actions and on the way people moved, gestures and attitudes, expressions and movements; he was an avid observer of people, of the way they shifted around him, creating patterns and weaving life with every tilt and shift of their frames.

The shop, brimming with life, always welcoming new customers and selling delicious sweets, was a delicate, protected bubble that had unveiled itself to Dave’s eyes, where he could meet people and watch them through the privileged position of a seller.

He didn’t have to dance and move with the crowd, rushing and spinning around, high-speed, to catch all that intrigued him.

He could observe it from behind a counter, feeling time shift around him, leaving him untouched, giving him the chance to _see_.

Every morning, from Monday to Friday, Dave woke up early, dragging his body out of bed and into the streets, senses coming to life as he watched life unfold around him.

People cursing at each other, or smiling, muttering on the phone or calling out to someone lost in the crowd. The twitches of people waiting at the crossroads, pace hurried as they moved everywhere around him, like buzzing bees.

Lost within the crowd, Dave felt like he could feel every second ticking by as he observed and registered and wove words in his mind, mixing his particular tunes together with the noises and the colours of the city.

His special, private songs.

Then he’d step into the shop and time would _still_ , and welcomed warmth would give him a respite, allowing him to calm down, to breathe, and observe more from a different perspective.

Dave Strider, 22, liked his current balance. Working every morning gave him the only routine of his life, and that was fine.

For everything else, rapid and instinctive decisions were how he rolled.

Sitting in his usual table in a small tea house two corners away from the pastry shop, Dave observed the troll in front of him, eyes roaming from his stubby horns, barely peeking from his hair, to his sharp features, eyes slightly larger than normal, the soft curve of his nose.

The guy looked angry, wound up and tense, like perpetually at war with the world –or maybe, Dave mused with a smirk, merely at war with the city.

Obviously, his lack of taste for good coffee was part of the problem.

Dave had no trouble shooting people down whenever they annoyed him –he was quick with words, spelling out deceiving rhymes that could confound most people, making them stumble over themselves until they were putty in his hands– but he also knew which battles to take, and which to drop.

This troll, Karkat as he’d called himself, had at first lashed out at him, grumpy and annoying, only to take everything back, even going as far as to wait for Dave outside of the pastry shop with a treat, much to his amusement.

Dave liked meeting unpredictable people, and he liked even more ones who could surprise him, as this guy had done.

Spontaneous actions, and a bit of a mystery –that was what intrigued him.

“What the fuck is this place,” Karkat muttered, looking around.

The shop was spacious, bright and not at all shady, much to Karkat’s surprise; he felt slightly more at ease, but he still couldn’t believe a random stranger had just brought him there to _drink_.

“A tea house, of course,” with a small shrug, Dave grasped one of the menus on the table, idly flipping through it even though he knew exactly what to get.

“Why am I here?” Karkat asked again, though he clearly wasn’t expecting an answer.

Dave smiled, eyes flickering from the troll’s face to the rest of the room.

“Because you need to be educated in the art of coffee, Karkat,” he idly used his name, getting a small grimace as an answer, the troll wrinkling his nose at him.

It felt a bit strange, and Karkat’s face, while unfamiliar, had something on him that made Dave’s senses tingle. He usually didn’t forget a face, unless too bland to be worth sticking in his mind, and Karkat Vantas was anything but bland.

He looked sharp, and angled and sturdy, the way he moved testified of training regime and carefully contained actions, hands that made Dave think of weapons, of his own childhood days spent sparring with his brother on the roof of his house.

Karkat had been carved through self-control and toughness. Dave could appreciate it.

Maybe the troll couldn’t get what _he_ did, stealing fleeting glances at more than just Karkat’s visage, but that was, alas, something else entirely.

“Starbucks is a decent coffee,” Karkat replied, though the soft growl underlining his statement was enough to uncover the lie in his words. “Well, ok, fuck,” he slapped one hand on his face, groaning. “It fucking sucks, the taste probably equals that of the worst sludge I could create by mixing chalk powder with the finest mud sticking on my shoes on a rainy day”.

“Now you’re talking more like it is,” with a nod of approval, both at the choice of words and at Karkat’s admission, Dave tapped his fingers on the table, and a waitress slid towards them, smiling.

“Hey, Dave! Welcome back!”

“Yo,” he lifted his hand in greeting, his lips twitching into a small grin as he looked at her.

Karkat blinked, looking up from the menu in Dave’s hands to the troll waitress, noticing the curved ram horns on her head and her long black hair neatly tied behind in a ponytail, probably for health reasons due to her job.

She looked young, and had some reddish makeup on her eyes, and the wide smile was almost contagious, so much that even Karkat could feel its warmth; the symbol she wore on top of her waitress uniform was an Aries in dark red, which placed her on the low side of the hemospectrum, but still above Karkat’s bright mutant red.

Her eyes moved around the room, as if searching for other customers before looking back at Dave.

“The usual?”

“You know it,” he nodded. “As for my new friend Vantas here…”

Karkat, feeling slightly flustered, looked at him again, and found both the human and the waitress watching him expectantly.

“Uh…” he swallowed, “what are you expecting me to say? You were the one who brought me here in the first place to taste some ‘decent coffee’!”

“Oh, so that’s the special of the house, then!” with a happy smile, as if Karkat had just ordered something incredibly expensive, the waitress signed it down. “Back in a moment!”

She skipped away, still grinning and tilting her head slightly as she stepped near a table, only to disappear behind the corner, into the staff-only area of the tea shop.

“This isn’t going to cost me a fortune, right? This better not be your way to spill money from my pockets, Strider,” he used the guy’s surname, not feeling comfortable with his name just yet, “Because I’m not sorry to say that I’m not exactly swimming in bucks”.

Dave snorted into his hand. “No, chill. I’m paying. I made you come here, didn’t I? It’s just coffee. They make a good one, I tell you”.

“Sorry if this comes out harshly, but–” Karkat stared suspiciously at him, “Who the fuck are you, dragging a perfect stranger to a tea house just to offer him coffee after he insulted you? You’re one weird fuck”.

With a snort, Dave shook his head. “You were right, that was harsh as fuck”.

Karkat grunted, his throat echoing his words with a clicking sound, “Forgive me for hurting your sensibilities, then,” he sneered.

“Apology accepted, Vantas–” then, it finally clicked in Dave’s mind, and he snapped his fingers together, straightening his back. “Ah-ha!”

“What?! Wha–” Karkat looked around, taken aback by Dave’s loud exclamation, but he could see nothing wrong in the empty tea room, so he returned his attention to the human.

“I remember you now!” looking quite proud of himself, Dave leaned forwards a bit, pointing one finger at the troll. “You were in the debate class last year”.

Karkat relaxed slightly, the mention of college courses soothing his worry a bit for some reason.

“I don’t remember seeing weird douchebags then,” he answered.

A part of him felt unsettled, because the teasing insults rolled out of his tongue with ease, and Karkat shifted a bit, wondering about it. It was rare for him to feel amicable with strangers, especially in such peculiar circumstances, but there was something of this human guy that rubbed him in a certain way, almost reminding him of someone…

Dave sneered, “You were far too busy ranting your head off against Min to notice anyone around,” then he shrugged, “Was amusing to watch”.

“Min?”

“Meenah Peixes,” Dave replied without missing a beat. “Long hair, quirky styled speech pattern, trident ready to poke at your insides…”

“Oh, shit, yeah,” Karkat actually shivered, his encounters with the deranged tyrian blood far too fresh in his thinkpan. “That girl sure did like talking”.

Dave looked at him, one eyebrow peeking from above his shades, keeping silent long enough that Karkat, reminding himself that he’d been just as eloquent during his debate class, had the decency to flush slightly and raise both hands in a surrender pose.

“Fact is, I was kicked out of that course,” Dave admitted, shrugging. “Professor didn’t like it when I started trying to get people to rap with me during debates”.

Karkat snorted. “Holy fuck, I think I remember you now,” eyes narrowed, Karkat leaned forwards, both hands pressed on the table. “You tried to make that poor kid on the wheelchair spout sick fires for over half an hour before someone intervened and ended his misery”.

Dave rolled his eyes, although it got lost behind his shades. “Tavros n’ me are best friends, what are you even saying, it wounds me”.

They looked at each other, momentarily appeased with having slotted the other into the list of their acquaintances, and the waitress took that moment to slide back into the room, a tray with a two steaming cups on them.

“Here you go, apple tea,” she placed the cup in front of Dave, smiling brightly when he thanked her, “and our coffee blend,” she placed the other cup in front of Karkat, looking at him expectantly.

“Thank you,” he stated, watching her leave again.

She paused in front of the empty table again, hand brushing against its surface, then left the room once more.

Quirky girl.

“Give it a try man, then you’ll never want Starbucks in your life _ever_ again,” Dave prodded him, busy sugaring his tea and stirring it with a teaspoon.

“Apple tea,” Karkat lifted both eyebrows in wonder.

“Everything apple is delicious,” Dave replied, tilting the cup to his lips to take a satisfied sip. “AJ’s the best, but you never go wrong with this shit here”.

“Somehow I hadn’t taken you for a tea drinker,” Karkat mused.

He finally understood who the human reminded him of, and it made him almost smirk; Dave’s attitude, his snarky words… he made Karkat think of Sollux.

He could concede it, in fact –Sollux was his best friend, and they had started their friendship with a conversation much similar to this one, bantering from one side of the computer to the other, back and forth, until it felt like they had known each other since forever.

That was why the feeling of talking with Dave felt familiar, and why Karkat, despite not knowing the ass, had felt at ease.

Sollux was going to laugh at him, that was for sure.

Absently, the troll brought the coffee to his lips, stirring it once again before taking a careful, testing sip.

The liquid was far too hot against his tongue, so he hissed and grunted, quickly letting it roll back to his throat as he swallowed, and then, lips parted to curse, he finally felt the taste, and blinked.

Oh.

The flavour was actually rather good, with a bitter aftertaste and a much stronger, spicy flare, and he licked his lips, quickly sampling the coffee again.

He looked up, startled, and his approval was probably written all over his face, because Dave was smiling knowingly at him.

“Told you so, that coffee’s the bomb”.

Karkat had nothing to say to that, and instead busied himself with the cup, nursing it slowly as not to finish it too quickly; sip after sip, he allowed the caffeine to rush through him, offering a much stronger stimulus than the shitty Starbucks thing.

“Holy fuck, this coffee is delicious, I don’t think my mouth has ever been agreeable to caffeine but I’ve been totally converted to this beverage,” surprised to see the cup empty, Karkat placed it down, mournfully.

“Yep,” looking quite smug, Dave finished his tea before it cooled down too much, and sighed, feeling the familiar warmth linger in his stomach.

They remained sitting for a moment longer, now strangely awkward, staring at the emptied cups, then Dave stood up, shrugging lightly. “I have a lesson in half an hour,” he explained, seeing Karkat shift his eyes to him. “I hope you’re feeling much less annoyed with the world now that you’ve had decent nourishment, hmm?”

Karkat mumbled something under his breath, his throat rumbling softly, but didn’t negate Dave’s statement as he followed the human to the counter, deciding that he could let the guy pay for his coffee since he’d dragged him all the way to this place.

If he had to be honest with himself, Karkat felt good; it was a nice change from his usual, ritualistic tradition of going home right after his courses, and although prompted by a very weird, embarrassing situation, it was ok, just this once.

Besides, the discovery of such a quiet place where he could get some good coffee… Karkat was glad he had now another option that was _not_ Starbucks.

He idly perused a nearby shelf, impressed by the coffee beans on display, wondering if he could get a package to bring home and learn how to make, and Dave started chitchatting with the cashier, a bulky troll with a broken horn who glanced at Karkat in vague disdain, probably put off by the fact that the symbol present on Karkat’s sleeve was sewn in grey, instead of a proper colour.

Karkat, having grown up used to getting sideways glances because of his anonymity, had long since stopped caring for what other trolls thought of him, lost within the depths of the Hemospectrum with his own mutant, weird colour.

He might be a genetic mishap, but he’d fought just like them during the trials, and the reward to keep on living was his to keep, too.

The ghost of the troll, who had been sitting quietly on top of a table and had been idly listening on their banter, shifted up when the two did, preparing to follow them to the cashier, but a quiet voice made her halt.

“Do you need any help passing to the other side?”

She stopped, twisting her neck a bit, almost confused to hear the waitress talk to the empty room; when she noticed the Aries’ eyes focused on her, empty red eyes widened behind her glasses.

The waitress was actually talking to _her_.

Fluttering inches above the ground, fingers tightening their hold on her cane’s shaft, the ghost licked her lips.

“You can… see me?” she let confusion bleed into her words, but soon it was washed away by pleased surprise, a wide grin replacing her pout when the living troll nodded sharply, smiling. “Well, that’s really new!”

Whereas usually her voice failed to become a sound living beings could hear, this time it seemed to travel without scattering into nothingness, and the waitress actually _heard_ her.

With a laugh the ghost troll, for a moment abandoning her devoted stalking of Karkat, launched herself through the air, pirouetting and approaching the quiet Aries, who tilted her head to the side, brushing hair away from her face.

Her eyes followed the spirit’s every move, almost as if to reassure her that yes, she could see her.

“No, I don’t,” the ghost finally replied, tilting her body forwards until she was inches away from the waitress, who didn’t move away. “I didn’t think someone could see me”.

“It is not common, I know!” the waitress’ smile was blinding, and it received a similar wide smile back from the ghost. “I suspected you didn’t need help, but I always feel like I’m supposed to ask that”.

A cackle was her only answer, the ghost pulling away and tapping the cane in the air, mimicking standing on the ground.

“You a psychic?” she asked, curious and still leering.

“Not quite. The right word is psychopomp!” still smiling, the waitress started cleaning the table where Karkat and Dave had been sitting. “It’s a gift I had since I was a child. I try to help the spirits of the deceased into their next life, when I see them. You seemed to be quite attached to that boy, but you don’t feel ill spirited, or angered”.

Sitting in mid-air, legs neatly folded underneath her body, the ghost placed her cane to the side, not letting go of it as its shape started blurring, slowly disappearing from sight, until it was gone, lost within the folds of the ghost’s incorporeal reality.

“I am not, that wouldn’t be _fair_ ,” she replied, and a soft breeze rattled a nearby shelf, making the glasses on it tingle.

“I suppose,” with an amused smile, the waitress straightened up, glancing at the troll and the human at the counter. “You didn’t tell me your name, wayward ghost!”

“Terezi,” was the soft reply, slightly hesitant as she spoke her name, almost as if fearing that a mention would make her disappear.

“Terezi, well, if you’re trying to obtain something in  particular in this life before leaving, then maybe you wouldn’t mind having someone to talk with, right?”

With such a contagious smile, even the harsh, vicious smirk of the ghost, Terezi, had no choice but to turn softer.

“You’re welcome whenever you pass by this tea shop, at least so I know you’re still keeping yourself on this side of the veil,” the rustblood continued, motioning for the ghost to follow her. “It is always nice to talk with a new face, dead or alive as it might”.

The grin was back on Terezi’s face, although the moment Karkat moved away from the counter to get to the door her attention was back on him, fluttering his way, unmindful of the potted plant she had to pass through.

“I might take you up on that offer, miss bright smile!” she stated, words wavering slightly as she moved away. “You smell like cherries, and I like that”.

With a small smile, the waitress hummed to herself and returned to her cleaning, the bells on the door chiming as the customers left the tea house.

She knew she would see her again, that was a certainty.

***

“Catch you around, man,” with a curt nod, looking by all means satisfied, Dave started walking towards the university campus.

Karkat watched him go away, lips set in a thin line, and when the human turned around –just once, lifting one hand to say goodbye– he looked away quickly.

He didn’t know whether to feel disappointed or relieved to be finally away from the odd human known as Dave Strider, but now alone in front of the tea house, Karkat found himself at loss, a slight uneasiness washing over him.

He didn’t know why he felt disappointed –he’d barely met the guy, they wouldn’t be sparkling any friendship whatsoever over the course of a couple hours, but that had been a particularly odd circumstance.

Suddenly, the idea of going back home felt almost unappealing, the thought of curling on his pile, with popcorn and a movie not as decent as it had been earlier in the morning, and it perturbed him.

Karkat grunted and tightened his hands into fists, briskly removing himself from the premises of the tea house and stomping down the street.

Around him the crowd had thinned, as it was almost midday –time surely did fly fast, he hadn’t even realised he had been around for so long– and Karkat had a much easier time finding a seat on the bus home.

Sitting there, curled up on the seat with his head pressed against the window pane, its cool surface feeling nice against his skin, Karkat refused systematically to let his thoughts wander to his meeting with Dave.

At his side, the ghost eyed curiously the crowd before returning her attention to Karkat, throat vibrating softly in a low purr. In the time she had been at his side like this, she had never had as much fun as today, and she hadn’t even been able to interact with people before.

And now, the rustblood waitress.

Terezi glanced at Karkat, eyes sharpening instantly and smirk losing its edge, growing softer and quieter.

She disliked seeing him like that, and she disliked seeing how his life had turned into a boring, secluded routine. The change had been nice, even if it was short lived.

There had been hope –hope in the form of blond hair and a pair of oversized shades– but it didn’t feel much like hope now, not when the human Dave had failed to stay around.

It was sort of disappointing, in a way that made the spirit shift uneasily, the cane now replaced in her arms by a strange-looking yellow doll shaped like a dragon.

With a soft sigh, Terezi followed Karkat home, watching his hunched shoulders and wondering if he would ever feel her sadness flicker through the veil that separated them.

***

Although not having to be present for the classes of Professor Lodge, as the man was sick, Karkat still had to go to campus for his other courses, and thus, he ended up passing in front of the pastry shop at least twice a day.

The first few times, late due to traffic and his bus having had to slow down due to that, he rushed past the windows without stopping, merely sniffing the delicious smell of freshly baked goods before hurrying off.

Returning home, his thoughts focused on getting some solid food in his stomach, he even forgot about the shop, remembering only when he was on the bus home, far too late to do more than just glance out of the window and chastise himself afterwards, almost embarrassed.

The third time, a Thursday afternoon, he had enough time to stop by, wanting to enter and buy something, but one look at the cashier made him rethink his plans –it wasn’t Dave.

Slightly upset, but not willing to allow himself to be stupid simply because the weird guy wasn’t around, Karkat stomped off and arrived earlier than usual to his class, which should have been positive if he hadn’t been in a sour mood anyway.

Returning home, he cursed his own idiocy and stopped by the pastry shop to buy that one sweet he’d wanted to try since the first day and munched on it while waiting for his bus, standing awkwardly at the stop, surrounded by teenagers and women with loud kids, trying not to spray crumbles all over himself.

Friday morning saw him waking up earlier than usual; due to a minor strike of the bus services, he would have to take the subway instead, which he severely disliked. There were a lot of weirdoes drinking too early in the fucking morning, and they were creepy as fuck.

Subway also meant he would not be able to pass by the pastry shop, which he decided was a good idea; he wouldn’t want to stick around and seem like a loon to everybody’s eyes.

That didn’t make it any better when, out of the subway and thirty minutes early, he promptly turned around and walked two blocks back to get to the patisserie.

He felt silly, wanting to try and talk with the human more, but he’d clicked with him in a way he hadn’t with anybody since Sollux, and that made him feel almost hopeful.

Sollux had moved to a communal hive on the other side of the city, working on his complicated coding for some agency or another, and when he got into those frenzies of his, Karkat had no hope to even see him aside from a spare, curt conversation over Trollian.

He sort of… dare he say it, missed the idiot. Then again, Karkat hadn’t been much of a decent company for a while already, all because…

With a wince, Karkat stopped in front of the pastry shop.

The fragrant smell suddenly felt sour, and any kind of appetite had disappeared altogether at the thoughts he refused to let himself linger on.

Wrinkling his forehead, Karkat turned around and made to leave, but his eyes fell, against his better judgement, on the window, and between rows of pastries and cheerful confections of sweets, he saw Dave looking at him.

When he realised Karkat had noticed him, Dave lifted one two fingers in a salute, and Karkat, almost spluttering, waved back.

Oh. So the guy actually remembered him…

Dave motioned for the pastries, and Karkat, frantically shook his head, showing his wristwatch for good measure, trying to make Dave understand that he didn’t quite have the time –not when he’d just walked for fifteen more minutes just to get there.

And thus not having any time left to actually get inside and buy a sweet.

Or talk.

Karkat cursed at himself, his idiocy, his absurd hopelessness and his rotting thinkpan, and with another curt, clipped wave, he turned around and ran towards campus.

He got there, once again, barely on time.

Saturday and Sunday, Karkat remained home.

He trolled Sollux, somewhat satisfied when the hacker managed to keep his attention away from coding enough to have a decent, almost coherent conversation with him.

They settled on an easy banter, throwing jokes and one-liners at each other for a while, and when he logged off, Karkat actually felt satisfied.

His talk with Sollux, though, cemented in him the realisation that Dave, although verbose and silver tongued, wasn’t exactly like Sollux, and that left Karkat wondering who else, among the people he knew, made Dave feel so familiar.

Without a solution at hand, Karkat buried himself in blankets, curled up in his pile, and watched romcoms for the whole Sunday, ordering Troll Chinese takeaway because he didn’t quite feel up to cooking.

Monday morning, Karkat decided to check the university website, just in case, and soon enough his hive echoed with curses and loud invectives dedicated to dear Professor Lodge, who had suddenly decided to announce his return on the main webpage… the same morning he’d have to have class.

Karkat had never hated Mondays more than he did in that moment.

Rushing out of his hive without even a cup of coffee to wake him up, Karkat managed to take the bus as it was leaving, though there were no places to sit anymore.

Just his recursive ‘luck’, obviously.

Karkat truly hated Mondays.

When he hurried down the street, uncaring whether he hit anybody, storming through crowded sidewalks and ignoring the curses sent his way –he was a walking bomb, no more a troll but simply a ticking mechanism set on explosion-upon-contact– he wouldn’t have spared a glance to the pastry shop if a voice hadn’t called him over, making him halt mid-stride.

“Oi, Karkat!”

Stuttering into a stop, Karkat’s head whipped to the side, taking in the sight of Dave, dressed in the familiar uniform, offering him a small paper bag.

“I… you… what?”

“Ain’t going to be letting you pass by without nourishment,” Dave smirked, nudging his shoulder with the paper bag until Karkat relented and grabbed hold of it. “It’s on the house,” the human added when the troll hesitated, unsure what to do.

“No, fuck, I can’t–”

“Shut your trap, I won’t end up in the streets just because I decided to be less of a stingy asshole. It’s not made of gold man, so just accept it and taste your paradise. You can call it advertising, if you see Shangri La during class more people might want to buy. Just saying”.

Karkat didn’t know what to say to that, and simply stared at Dave with wide eyes until the human waved at him, snapping his fingers in front of his face.

“I was under the impression that you were running late…?”

With a loud clicking and chirruping, Karkat hurriedly thanked Dave, sprinting towards campus with the bag clutched to his chest.

Dave’s eyes lingered on him until he turned the corner, disappearing from sight, then glanced to the side, hummed, and with a smirk returned inside the pastry shop.

Terezi, steady presence with her cane twirling in her fingers, snorted in amusement. For a moment she hesitated, looking at the window of the patisserie. She had tasted something in the air surrounding the human guy, a tangerine curiosity, but the scents were always so bland now that she was dead.

They never seemed to feel right anymore, so she let it go.

With a snicker, she followed Karkat’s path, floating unhurriedly above the heads of the passers-by.


	3. Chapter 03

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the lateness! I hope you'll find this chapter good :3 <3

** Chapter 03 **

“Dave, could you please have a look at this list?”

Jane Crocker, 25, owner of Crocker’s Pastries, one of the best patisseries in the city, slid out from the ‘Authorized Personnel Only’ area of the shop and gently tapped Dave’s shoulder, making him turn around.

She was holding a paper in her hand, fingers and apron dusted white with flour, and he had to restrain a small smile when he found some white powder sprinkled on her nose.

Jane was his brother’s best friend, one of those friendships that seemed to blossom from nowhere in a second and that lasted through rights and wrongs; she was also _his_ employer.

She was shorter than him by at least half a head, with hair combed like they were still living in the fifties –and despite that, it still looked fashionable on her, fitting– and plump curves that made her seem all the more motherly, but he knew better than to think her soft –she was a strong woman with a silk-covered iron fist.

He nodded, gazing down at the list; it contained mainly ingredients that Jane needed to stock up on, like chocolate, flour and sugar and the like, but Dave snickered slightly when he noticed a scribbled note on the upper corner in blue pen, depicting the CROCKER Corp Logo crossed out with hatred.

Obviously John had visited the shop before class, leaving behind traces of his passage.

The guy was Jane’s cousin, but the only thing they had in common was a shared passion for tricks and pranks.

“The prices are correct,” he told Jane after a quick check. “You’ll need to set the amount and then calculate the 10% detraction you get, and then…” he noticed her lost look and grabbed a pen, jotting down the equations on a corner of the paper. “Here. Don’t forget to sign the form when the courier arrives”.

“I don’t fancy having to work out all the things by myself, you’d better be around,” Jane replied, trying to look intimidating but failing miserably. “I’ll pay you extra if you’re here when the courier comes with the actual orders!”

“No problem J, have nothing better to do ‘round here”.

Jane’s eyes flickered towards the entrance of the shop, and her lips settled on a small smile. “Hey, isn’t that your troll friend?”

Dave twisted his neck, and smirked when he recognised the familiar face of Karkat peeking through the window, eyes flickering from the pastries on display to him.

They had met like that every morning for the past week, just a few minutes of chat before Karkat had to leave for his classes, but it was a nice addition to his usual work routine.

With a casual, relaxed wave, Dave moved quickly out of the counter, grabbing a small, unassuming white package from behind it, and moved to the door.

“Sup?” he greeted, nodding at the troll.

His fingers tightened around the bag as he dangled it in front of the troll, who eyed it with a look of absolute, pure glee, unskilfully masked a second later as he looked up at Dave’s face.

“You don’t plan on making a freeloader out of me, right?” his eyebrows lowered enough to seem almost threatening, like black caterpillars on top of vibrant yellow sclera.

Dave idly tilted his head from one side to the other, eyes flickering from Karkat to the side, squinting slightly in the light even if he was wearing his shades.

“Nope, ain’t the way I work around here, man. Just thought that you’d like some free samples. Call it–”

“–investment, I know, making clients run your way like moths to a flame, getting ‘burned’ but unable to stay away, and blah, blah, blah,” Karkat rolled his eyes, but his shoulders relaxed slightly. “You said that yesterday, too”.

“Hey, I’ll have you know that Striders never make a repeat. What was yesterday isn’t going to be the same today, water under the bridge, no encore only privileged one-time-only shows, no refunds, only awe,” Dave shrugged, and easily slipped the bag into Karkat’s hand. “You should have gotten used to it already, Karkat”.

With a soft snort, Karkat stole the bag from Dave’s lax grip and wrinkled his nose, though to his defence he looked pretty protective over the sweets inside it.

“Yeah, yeah, I know. Thank you. But I can’t keep accepting freebies all the time. I’m not a charity case, and I’ll let you know that I’m sufficiently backed up to buy pastries. Let me at least pay you in advance for the next week”.

“Nah, that’s what friends do,” with another casual shrug, as if to minimise the impact of his words, Dave turned around and pushed the door of the shop open. “See you”.

A hand darting forth to grab his arm stopped him, and he licked his lips, feeling slightly embarrassed for his words.

As such, he didn’t turn around.

“You… are we friends?” the tone of the troll was not doubtful, but it did contain a note of disbelief.

“Uh, sure, told you the first time I saw you. We’re two peas in a pod, bros forever, that sort of shit, man, ain’t going to get rid of me anytime soon, I’ll be practicing my raps all over your ass and you’ll be converted to the glory of sicknasty rhymes, and–”

It was a fact that didn’t make him proud at all, but Dave had a tendency to spontaneously burst into long, wordy rants whenever he felt pressured into something.

Talking in front of his professors, having a job interview, or blurting out stupid things when offering a pastry to a troll he’d met just a couple weeks before (ok, it was more like ten days, but who was keeping count? Definitely not Dave).

Dave’s mouth always worked on its own, brain giving up control and letting his tongue roll out convoluted metaphors that only made things even more confused, acting as his only refuge to avoid personal embarrassment.

Karkat tugged his shirt with a soft growl. “Oh, no, you won’t–” even if Dave couldn’t see it, he just _knew_ the troll had just rolled his eyes at him. Karkat seemed to have that reaction around him a lot. “Shut that human trap for a moment and listen to me when I deign you with a reply, Strider. It might just as well make me want to leave right now if you keep spouting your usual acerbic pile of shit”.

Dave’s lips fell shut instantly, and he swallowed.

“It’s… it’s ok. Us being friends, I mean. Not you giving me gifts. I’d be profiting on you and that isn’t what friends do, so stop being a colossal idiot and let me pay next time. Or at least offer you one of those horrid apple teas you seem to be so fond of”.

Dave’s lips twitched up in a small smile, and he once again shrugged, trying to look casual. “Whatever you wish, man. I never say no to free food… but are you sure you’re not just wanting to get more of that coffee?”

“As if there was a doubt of that!” Dave turned around, slightly surprised to have the troll agree with him instead of replying with a curse, and found Karkat actually smirking. “I’m free this afternoon, so prepare yourself for a treat”.

Dave snorted and nodded. “Enjoy your class, Karkat”.

The bells on top of the door chimed pleasantly as he returned to his job, throwing a quick thank you at Jane, who had momentarily taken his place at the cashier; she was looking at him with an appraising look, and Dave felt slightly uncomfortable under her gaze.

“What,” he asked, almost defensively.

She wasn’t one to make annoying comments, but she could be a tease sometimes nonetheless.

“I was thinking how much I’m going to make you pay for making plans right after you promised to help me,” she replied with a small wry smile.

Feeling a bit cold, Dave retreated from her, raising both hands to try and pacify his boss.

“Uh… I–”

“You’d better hope you finish up everything before your chum comes over, or I’m going to take my sweet time chatting with John and Roxy!”

He winced. “Shit”.

***

“Amusing, really amusing,” Karkat observed with a smug look as he watched Dave hoist what looked like a very heavy box, dragging it inside the shop.

He could hear Dave huff in the distance, the noise of his footsteps fading away into silence as Karkat was left alone in the back, staring at the pile of packages and sacks of ingredients for the patisserie; the troll was sitting on a cassette of empty water bottles, a bit bored but overall mostly amused by the circumstances.

The back corner of the pastry shop was mostly empty of interesting things to linger on, so he simply waited for the human to come back. Dave was definitely enough to keep him entertained.

At his side, Terezi was thinking the same, cackling silently at the amusing sight of a flustered Dave struggling to bring the packages inside.

Dave resurfaced from the shop with a sigh, rubbing his lower back with one hand as he tilted his head to look at Karkat.

“It’s _not_ amusing, man,” he replied to Karkat’s earlier comment, preparing to hoist another box up and into the shop. “You don’t know Jane, she’s like evil incarnate. Don’t let her cute chubby face fool you, she’s one hell of a monster–”

“I can see that,” Karkat agreed, his voice laced with sarcasm.

“I _mean_ it,” Dave scratched the back of his head, looking uncertain all of sudden. “You don’t have to waste your time here waiting for me, though. Maybe we should reschedule or something”.

He felt bad for making his friend wait like that, especially since Karkat had looked pretty set on offering him some tea, but that wasn’t the only reason; despite always training, and having a lean, fit body, he was only good with things related to speed, not sheer strength.

He had a hard time hoisting all the heavy boxes into the shop all by himself, but that was his punishment and he’d have to accept it.

So, that part of him that was all ego and pride made Dave feel embarrassed to show how lacking he was in the strength department, especially to a new friend.

“Nah, I don’t mind,” Karkat shrugged, not looking bored at all. His lips twitched into an amused smirk. “Do you need a hand, though? You look like your weak, human arms aren’t enough to sustain the weight of that box”.

“Nah, man, don’t bother, I can do it, I have everything under control here, chill as Arctic ice, nothing too heavy,” Dave let his mouth run free again as he stared down at the next package, silently cursing at himself. “I’m _good_ ”.

Karkat emitted a low series of weird, alien sounds –chirping and clicking and noises that were similar to cracking knuckles or snapping twigs– and Dave looked away, embarrassed because Karkat was laughing at him.

Next thing he knew, he was huffing under the box, heavy enough to make his arms ache, walking through the shop’s backdoor; he didn’t even notice when someone came up behind him, footsteps light, and then a voice, not ruffled or strained at all–

“Where do I have to put this, you useless fuck?”

Dave tilted his head to the side, aware that if he turned he’d drop the container, and then almost dropped it anyway when he saw Karkat holding up another package like it weighed nothing, yellow eyes fixed on him, waiting.

“How the fu–”

“Told you, you’re just one useless sack of meat,” Karkat replied easily, smirking. “Now, lead the way”.

Cheeks turning darker in shame, Dave led Karkat down the corridor and into the storeroom, placing down the box he was holding with a grateful sigh. Karkat trotted to the corner and delicately placed the other package down, straightening his back and having the audacity to look completely fine.

Not even out of breath.

“You are totally inhuman, man”.

“Of course, I’m a troll,” Karkat replied with a pleased smirk.

Dave glared at him, though it got lost behind his shades, and turned to leave the storeroom, Karkat in tow, “Oh, fuck you, you know what I mean”.

“Yeah, you lack terms to encompass how much better than you I am, and you are quite embarrassed to admit it,” Karkat snickered as he followed him.

“Oh, I like your friend!”

Both Karkat and Dave turned around, finding Jane standing on the door of the kitchen, smiling brightly.

“He does look like he has some meat in the right places,” Jane continued, tapping the edge of her wooden spoon against her cheek. “Seems like he has it all together, unlike you, Dave,” she turned to look at him, her expression a mix of motherly and smug. “Maybe I should think about hiring him, rather than you! Hehe!”

Dave muttered something under his breath and hurried down the corridor, hoping Karkat would follow, but the troll actually seemed a bit hesitant, looking at Jane like he needed permission to move.

“Dave is lucky that you’re a nice fellow, helping him out,” Jane continued, winking at Karkat. “He’s a poor nipper,but he does his fair share”.

“ _Jane,_ ” Dave called out, feeing totally humiliated by her calling him a little kid.

Karkat snorted slightly, amused at her light attitude and feeling oddly comfortable as they shared a moment at the expenses of his new friend.

It felt almost weird –he barely knew Dave, after all, so he was just getting into the dynamics of how to work around him and the people he knew– but it also felt nice, so he didn’t question it, simply nodding at the woman before following Dave outside.

The two didn’t speak much after that, but Dave also didn’t comment when Karkat grabbed another box and continued aiding him; splitting the remaining heavy packages between the two of them, they managed to finish up things quickly, and Jane, smiling happily, offered Karkat some cake to bring home as a thank you.

“I noticed this is the one Dave gives you most often, so feel free to enjoy some at home and maybe share it with someone,” with a smile, Jane returned inside the shop, and Karkat and Dave headed towards the tea house.

Karkat tightened his grip on the bag containing his pastry, feeling oddly flustered at the nice gesture, and muttered a soft thank you.

“Sorry ‘bout that,” Dave scratched his chin. He still felt a bit awkward, so he tried to think of something to talk about to dispel the weird aura. “ _So_ , how was your class today?”

Karkat glanced at him, then shrugged. “Professor has a habit of being a ludicrous mass of unadulterated barkbeast vomit, but today he’s been almost passable with his tirade. I almost think I actually _learned_ something, can you believe it?”

With a small snort, Dave shook his head. “Sounds like you had a good day”.

The streets were filled with people, moving in banks and fluttering from one side to the other in coordinated groups, stopping and walking at the same pace, all together, rehearsed movements of familiarity.

Cars honked, music waves fluttered away from radios, echoing in the air, adding to the cacophony of sounds, talking and laughing and screaming. To diffuse the noises, some people wore earphones, blasting music directly into their ears, and some hurried past where the noise was too loud, wincing and disappearing into the sea of faces.

In the middle of the crowd, though, Karkat and Dave walked together, chatting as if the chaos surrounding them was gone; with every step, a fragment of that awkwardness they still felt in their newly blooming friendship seemed to disappear as they idly spoke of their lives, accounting their school expectancies and making the walk feel far shorter than it was.

Behind them, forgotten and unseen, Terezi followed, watching them interact with the sort of glee that was tainted by the slightest envy –she wanted to be part of the group, to talk and share the jokes and laugh.

Terezi watched the way Karkat’s mouth twitched slightly whenever they hit an uncomfortable subject that reminded him of something painful, the way he seemed to subtly retreat to himself; she watched how Dave, almost noticing it, was quick to intervene with his words, dissipating the uncertain aura with a joke, catching Karkat before he could pull away and dragging him back, making him snort and chuckle.

The human made Karkat _react_ , made him joke and snort on his own, using his extensive vernacular to drag out snarky smiles and amused snorts from Dave.

The sight was enough to make Terezi dissipate her cane, her usual ever present companion, to grab her dragon doll again, holding it in blurry, transparent fingers until the contours of her skin and those of the small dragon melted together into the air.

Pushing the door of the tea house open, Karkat snorted in reply to something Dave had said, and Dave waved at the cashier, who gritted his teeth but nodded back at him.

The ambient was just as cosy as Karkat remembered from that first time, and his mouth watered simply at remembering the taste of that good coffee.

He’d thrown away all instant coffee he owned, vacating his usual routine of buying Starbucks (because who would keep on buying that shit when they had tasted better?), but with his chaotic timetable he hadn’t had the chance to come to the tea room on his own before.

Since he had some time for once, Karkat decided to inquire about their various paradise coffees and instead of following Dave towards the tables he lingered behind, accosting the counter with his head held high, attracting the attention of the troll with a broken horn.

Dave glanced back at him for a moment, then slid to his usual table, stretching his legs under it, licking his lips and waiting for the waitress as his eyes lazily explored the local, safely hidden behind his shades.

“Hey, Dave!”

The rustblood bounced towards him, stopping for a moment to smile to an empty spot, then reached the table and leaned on it, offering him the menu.

The lines of Dave’s face relaxed a bit as he smiled back, eyes returning for a moment to the counter, where the cashier was busy with the selection of coffee bags.

The waitress looked above her shoulder as well, a mischievous look appearing on her face as she quickly bent down to nuzzle Dave’s cheek.

“Gotta pay attention, you don’t want to upset Equius with your obscene romantic gestures while you’re working, Ara,” there was a teasing edge to Dave’s tone, but he didn’t protest when she wrapped both arms around his neck, burying her face into his messy hair.

“Shut up, it’s been a long morning!”

“You have _no_ idea,” he agreed, smiling up at her. “Trouble in paradise?”

“Don’t even joke, I swear,” she retreated, brushing one stray hair lock away from her cheek. “I am quite sure he’s going to hire another waiter for the morning shift, which means I’ll have to be the one to train them!”

“If you want I could try out working here, too,” he teased, watching as her eyes lit up in amusement.

“Dave Strider, don’t you even think about that! You know just as well as I do that you’re unfit to serve people!”

“I serve them just fine over at the pastry shop, though,” he rebuked.

“That’s not the same, and you know it. Now shut up and order, your sweetheart’s coming here”.

“He’s not my sweetheart, Aradia,” he replied in a huff. “He’s a friend”.

She wrinkled her nose, managing to look even cuter than usual, round cheeks and big, expressive eyes. “The usual, then?”

Dave caught Karkat approaching the table, looking satisfied of himself, a medium-sized packet of coffee in a plastic bag, and smirked, “Make it a double, _he’s_ paying,” he winked, pointing with his head at the other troll.

“Is that so?” she turned around, smiling brightly at Karkat. “You want the house special again?”

“Uh, yeah,” he glared at Dave, though it didn’t hold any annoyance, and sat down, nodding as the waitress walked away. “You know her?”

Dave hummed softly, leaning on the table to play with a sugar packet and motioning Karkat to lean close as well, which he did, though seeming perplexed.

“She’s been my secret lover for the last year,” he confided, lowering his voice. “See the troll at the counter? He’s her rightful matesprit, and we’re having a flirt behind his back!”

Karkat’s face flushed a dark grey, spluttering and pulling away from Dave, eyes wide and mouth twisted in a small grimace, and Dave kept his face as straight as he could, nodding softly.

The shock was quickly replaced by a small frown. “You–”

“–are a big fat liar,” Aradia reappeared at their side, holding a small tray with a couple pastries on it. “Please do not heed his idiocy, he likes to say that to everybody to see how they react”.

A bit baffled, slightly annoyed, but most of all relieved, Karkat relaxed a bit.

“And I’m not in a redrom with Equius either, Dave,” she swatted him on the head, placing the pastries down. “This is on the house, they go well with your orders. Wait just a bit more until the coffee’s ready, ok?”

“Yeah, yeah, but don’t you dare deny he’d die to have you in his quadrants, Ara,” Dave snickered, grabbing one of the pastries and licking the outer sugar dusting, managing to get it all over his lips and chin. “Concupiscent ones,” he added helpfully, voice muffled by the mouthful of pastry.

Karkat stared at him, unsure whether to wrinkle his nose or laugh at how silly the human looked like that.

He also noticed the way Aradia’s fingers lingered in Dave’s hair before retreating, and things finally clicked in his head.

“You are moirails,” he accused, only realising the tone he’d used after he had spoken. “I mean, uh…”

“Yes!” Aradia smiled warmly at him, cheeky and showing off her dimples, and Karkat smiled back, reassured. “Though sometimes I wonder why I’m so nice to him!”

“Oh, shut it,” Dave prodded her side. “Shouldn’t you go back to work. Shoo. Shoo”.

Aradia rolled her eyes, though she was still smiling, and walked away to check on a new customer who’d just peeked from the front door, leaving Karkat and Dave alone at the table.

Dave wiped away the excess of sugar on his chin and caught Karkat staring at him, a weird expression on his face.

“What? You didn’t think me capable of troll relationships?” he teased.

Flustered, Karkat concentrated on his own pastry, biting on the soft, creamy surface and trying not to make it obvious the thought _had_ indeed fluttered through his thinkpan.

“It’s not often you see humans tackling troll quadrants,” he mumbled around his mouthful, feeling silly. “Usually it’s just redrom or a weird attempt at ashen”.

“Yeah. Me n’ Ara have been friends since forever, and it didn’t click until like, four years ago. I wasn’t big on quadrant-y things, but uh, well,” he shrugged, and Karkat had the feeling that he was oversimplifying matters, but decided not to pursue the subject, careful to keep threading lightly on other people’s quadrant matters. “She’s a keeper, I tell you”.

Despite himself, Karkat had to smile a bit. There was a definite warmth in Dave’s tone. Most trolls were sort of sceptic to start moirallegiances with humans, worried about how they wouldn’t understand the depths of what it took to be in a pale relationship –the most important quadrant a troll could ever hope to fill, regardless of reproductive-focused ones.

Of course Karkat couldn’t judge –he didn’t know Dave enough, not yet (but he sort of wanted to. With all his silly rapping and rambling, and those idiotic shades he kept on wearing all the time, he was sort of a decent human being)– but it didn’t seem all that bad.

On that subject, though… Karkat observed Dave as he munched on his pastry, once again dusting his face with sugar, and wrinkled his nose.

He had known Dave only for a couple weeks by now, and this was only the second time they had managed to spend more than a couple minutes together, but to say he was curious about his shades would be an understatement.

Opening his mouth, he tried to muster the courage to ask about them; the guy always seemed to wear his aviators even indoors, and if Karkat had to stick to his first impression, he would easily say that it was a way to seem cooler, even though in his opinion it only made the human look like a tool…

But no. This was too simplistic, not accurate enough. Dave wasn’t shallow, or at least he didn’t seem so to Karkat, who was no good judge of characters, but could still follow his gut feeling.

He was quite curious, and amused, and couldn’t help but wonder what the real reason was.

Was there a medical condition that made it impossible for Dave to remove his glasses? Photo-sensibility was a thing for trolls, too, especially when their race was used to a perpetual nocturnal setting, so many trolls living on the planet suffered from that.

Maybe, if he tried to keep his tone bland enough for some idle chatter, he could get an answer while still being tactful about it… “Hey, why the fu–”

And swallowed the rest of his words when Ara returned to the table, bringing him his order.

Lost in the swirls in his coffee as he stirred it, Karkat momentarily forgot his question, breathing in the scent of the strong beverage before sipping it slowly, savouring the rich taste.

Yes, that was _good_.

When he came to, a few minutes later and the cup mournfully empty, the troll found Dave staring amusedly at him, his head tilted to the side as he idly tapped the teaspoon against the edge of his own cup.

“You _do_ enjoy that coffee,” he commented, smirking like he’d just won the fucking lottery.

Karkat realised with a start that he was making a content clicking with the back of his throat, a sound that humans always associated to feline purring.

With a small embarrassed shuffle, he decided to make Dave focus on something else, so he opened his mouth, ready to scoff and demand information regarding the shades…

The door tingled open, and a cheerful voice echoed through the shop.

“Equius~!”

Karkat blinked, surprised at the familiarity of the voice. Was it…

He peeked behind his shoulders, and felt Dave lean across the table to look as well.

A troll had just slipped inside the tea house, bouncing over to the counter with a happy sound; she wore a military green jacket that, as opposed to the last time Karkat had seen her, now actually fit her lithe body, showing how she’d filled in since her childhood. On top of her head there was a snuggly blue hat and Karkat idly thought that certain things never changed.

“Nepeta,” the soft rumble coming from the bartender –Equius– was full of the warmth that his countenance didn’t show. His shoulders were tense, his back straight, and his lips were drawn into a small line, but his voice was enough to disprove this attempt at detachment.

He was actually happy to see her, and was trying to unsuccessfully hide it behind a reproachful gaze.

Nepeta bounced on the balls of her feet, and Karkat’s eyes lingered where there had been a blue felt tail once, now gone. He half expected to see it appear and swish in time with her wiggling, but that didn’t happen.

Time ran forth, and he wondered how much of Nepeta had changed since the last time they had talked.

“I was passing by and I really missed you,” the playful tone in her voice was the same he remembered, and so were her eyes. “AC would like to get a hug if you purrlease?”

The cat puns hadn’t changed, either.

Equius’ coolness melted away into a sudden hesitance, fidgeting on the spot, and Karkat couldn’t help but wonder just how those two had gotten together –and which quadrant? Nepeta’s attitude suggested red, but which shade?

“That is exceedingly unwelcome, as I am working now, Nepeta,” he stated, his tone coming off almost steely. Her face fell slightly, and even Equius seemed to melt at that. “But if you would like to wait, I take a break in a few minutes”.

She brightened up instantly, and turned towards Aradia with a wink, her expression turning decidedly smug –clear sign she knew how to tug Equius’ bloodpump the right way.

Then, her eyes flickered on Karkat, and the smugness was replaced with a barely contained excitement, bubbling on the surface and making her beam.

“Karkitty!” she purred, rushing towards the table.

Karkat spluttered at the nickname, hit by a wave of melancholy, then smiled at her. “Nepeta,” he greeted. “It’s been a while”.

She nodded, smiling at Dave. “I didn’t know you and Akwete Purrmusk were furrends!” she said, smiling so brightly Karkat spontaneously felt the need to wear sun protection.

He turned towards Dave, eyebrow lifted. “Akwete Purrmusk?” he asked, openly amused.

Dave had the decency to look almost sheepish. “Don’t ask,” he shrugged, then smirked. “Have to split my coolness in two distinctive parts or it will be far too much for the world to handle”.

Karkat snorted, amused, then turned towards Nepeta again. “How are you doing?” he asked. “You still studying to be a vet?”

She nodded excitedly, pressing her hands together. “Yes, I’m going to do an internship soon around here,” she looked healthy, happy, and ok, and Karkat shuffled a bit, guilt burning inside his guts at the thought that he’d failed to keep contacts with her. “Mr Stiffy there is my purrtner during courses, and we’re weaving pale furr each other”.

Karkat threw a glance at Equius, appraising him again now that he knew one of his old friends was dating him. The blueblood shuffled at the counter, clearly unsure what to do, and Karkat was amused to see he was so fidgety he was starting to sweat, wiping his palms on his apron and busying himself with shuffling around with some gift-packages on the shelf.

He glanced at Nepeta, and for a moment it felt like they were back during high school as they shared a knowing smile.

Wrinkling her nose happily, nudging Karkat with a finger and leaning closer, conspiratorially, Nepeta winked at him. “What about you, Karkitty? How’s going between you and Terezi?”

Karkat’s grip around his empty coffee cup tightened instantly, and all his amusement died all of sudden, replaced with an empty, gaping hole in his chest.

He looked down, suddenly fascinated by the grains of sugar scattered on the surface of the table, and felt Dave’s attention shift on him, curious and worried. He heard a small intake of breath that signalled how Dave was about to speak, and then–

“Nepeta, if you want to have your hug, you’d better hurry up, my break won’t be quite as long as you would like it to,” Equius called out from the counter.

Karkat heard Nepeta falter, realising she’d said something wrong but not knowing what, but he wasn’t quite paying attention. Then, he felt her retreat, hesitantly saying goodbye, but he still didn’t look up.

Mentioning her name had been sudden, and it _hurt_ , but Nepeta couldn’t have known–

Dave had noticed the way Karkat was pulling away instantly; his shoulders hunched and he looked down at the table, not glancing up, and Dave felt a stir of worry inside his guts.

He wanted to ask what was wrong –but he somehow had the feeling that Nepeta had touched a subject that wasn’t meant to come to light.

For a moment he wondered who Terezi was –maybe his ex, maybe he’d had a bad breakup– but he shook the curiosity away. This wasn’t his place to ask, no matter how much he wanted to know.

They weren’t close enough that he could ask things that made Karkat look so…

Pained.

“Oi, Karkat, I was wondering…” he racked through his brain in search of something to say, watching Equius lead Nepeta towards the back. He vaguely remembered something that Karkat said when they were walking towards the tea house, and thanked whatever god up there that John was a movie fanatic. “I heard there’s a new movie with Will Smith out today in the theatres, supposed to be the shit, dramatic fucking plot. Wanna hit downtown and waste your afternoon on movie masterpieces?”

Karkat tilted his head up, peering at him for a moment, and Dave wondered, all of sudden, if he wasn’t making things even worse.

He knew how to work around his friends –slick and smooth, because he knew them, and they knew him. But _new_ friends were different, and that was why he didn’t make many of those.

Still…

Karkat shrugged. “I don’t really feel like a movie,” he muttered half-heartedly, gaze blank.

The troll stood up, slowly, almost as if his body weighted a ton, and looked down at his empty cup.

“I should just go home anyway”.

Not knowing what to do, Dave looked up, and met Aradia’s concerned eyes.

She slowly shook her head, and he deflated a bit, nodding.

“You sure man? I heard it’s gonna be a huge hit,” he tried one last time, though lacking conviction. “Ain’t nothing better than watching a movie with friends”.

Karkat looked at him, in the general direction where Dave’s eyes were behind his shades, and hesitated for a fraction of a second before shaking his head.

They moved towards the counter, where Aradia took Equius’ place to ring up the bill. Dave offered to walk with Karkat to the bus stop, but he refused with a small shrug, so the human could do nothing but let him go.

The end of the afternoon turned out to be bleak, unsatisfying and sliced raw, like an open wound; it left a bitter taste in Dave’s mouth and yet… he couldn’t do anything.

Aradia’s eyes lingered on the pained expression on Terezi’s face as the ghost followed Karkat out of the tea house, passing through the wall without noticing; she was clutching the doll once again, as if to try and gain some sort of strength from it.

Terezi glanced back at her only once before the two disappeared behind a corner, and even then, Aradia had the distinct feeling that the ghost was crying, her tears vanishing into thin air as soon as they were out of her eyes.

***

Karkat moved automatically, not even focusing on what he was doing as he arrived home and removed the cake from his bag, placing it in the fridge before turning to get the coffee out of the package.

Methodically, he grabbed his usual jar and placed it on the counter.

Terezi looked at him, lips curled downwards, and cursed under her breath at the edge of heaviness his movements seemed to have.

She wanted to shake him, tell him to stop looking so pathetic, but she couldn’t even do that –the barrier between her reality and his was too big.

Karkat took the coffee package out of the bag, and in doing so, a small piece of paper fluttered to the floor.

He let it rest, assuming it was simply the receipt, and finished putting away all the coffee where it belonged before bending down to get it.

Instead of the receipt, though, he found himself staring down at a piece of paper clearly ripped from a notebook, with only one word scribbled on it.

‘turntechGodhead’.

Karkat blinked, some of his lethargy retreating as he pondered over what that meant, finally coming to the conclusion that it was probably a trollian handle… or a pesterchum one.

Both programs were built to interact with one another (though with the faults of using two messengers of competitive brands), so whichever it was, adding it to Karkat’s trollian would work just fine.

Still, that didn’t mean he had any idea who…

Karkat’s eyes widened a bit. This was probably Dave’s handle. Who’d slipped that into his bag, though? Was it Dave’s moirail, Ara?

He hesitated, unsure what to do with the name, before hesitantly turning towards his husktop.

The way he had left the tea house had been abrupt, and despite his lethargy, Karkat didn’t want to seem ungrateful or cold. Dave had been friendly enough to him before, and he deserved, if nothing else, at least an apology.

He didn’t feel like connecting on his laptop though. He wanted to just lay down on his pile and let his thoughts wander.

Still…

It wouldn’t take much time. Just one quick, shameful apology, and then he could still bury himself somewhere and let the world fuck off; if Dave didn’t want him to keep his handle, he would delete it afterwards, and no harm done.

With that in mind, Karkat nodded wordlessly to himself and shuffled to his husktop, flickering it on and watching the grub-powered machine slowly whirr to life.

 


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> New chapter! Hope you like :D

 

**Chapter 04**

  
–––  carcinoGeneticist [CG]  began trolling  turntechGodhead [TG]  at 20:40 ––– 

CG: SO. I JUST ADDED YOU TO MY TROLLIAN, AND WILL ONLY STEAL A COUPLE MINUTES OF YOUR TIME, TIME THAT I KNOW IS PROBABLY BETTER SPENT DOING SOMETHING ELSE, LIKE I DON’T KNOW, MAYBE WORKING OUT A BIT, GIVEN YOUR SHAMEFUL DISPLAY OF WEAKNESS FROM THIS AFTERNOON.   
CG: IF THIS PROVES TO BE FAR TOO MUCH FOR YOUR RATHER SUBPAR INTELLIGENCE –AND I USE THE WORD WITH HESITANCE, CONSIDERING I KNOW YOU ENOUGH TO BE AWARE OF HOW LACKING YOUR THINK PAN SEEMS TO BE IN REGARDS TO ANY SORT OF MENTAL STRAIN, I APOLOGIZE.   
CG: NOW, AS FOR THE REASON I’M TROLLING YOU… YOUR MOIRAIL *PROBABLY* PUT YOUR HANDLE IN MY COFFEE BAG, AND I DECIDED I COULD USE IT TO, WELL, APOLOGIZE FOR MY FUCKING AWFUL MOOD SHIFT OF THIS AFTERNOON.   
CG: FOR HOW MUCH IT PAINS ME TO SAY, I HAVE ACTED LIKE A SHITSTAIN ON YOUR WALKWAY.   
CG: IF THIS HORRIFYINGLY SHAMEFUL DISPLAY OF BLOODPUSHERFELT REGRET HAS ENDED, I WILL GLADLY DELETE YOUR NAME IF THIS IS WHAT YOU WANT.   
TG: oy man ease there with the caplocks it makes you sound like youre always yelling  
TG: I can just picture you screaming at the computer  
TG: oh my god is that actually a thing you do in your free time because that would be hilarious man  
TG: holy shit wouldnt it be like  
TG: karkaplocks   
CG: NO.   
CG: FOR THE LOVE OF ALL THAT IS GOD, CEASE WITH THE HORRID PUNS. THEY MAKE ME CRINGE.   
CG: YOU WILL STOP IMMEDIATELY WITH THAT AND JUST GIVE ME A FUCKING REPLY.   
TG: what  
TG: a reply for the heartfelt apology  
TG: which honestly im not even sure its all that heartfelt but that might be just the way you type  
TG: or about the whole handle thing  
TG: you have totally my approval to keep that handle man  
TG: karkat  
TG: bro  
TG: i wouldnt miss the chance to troll you back at all  
TG: you just jumped on the strider wagon of friendship  
TG: ironically that exists for real one day i promise ill let you have a ride but now were talking about the metaphorical one and youre on it  
TG: you did it karkat  
TG: and its a one hell of a ride free of charge and the only trick is theres no way to get off  
TG: well be friends for as long as I can dig my pretty blunt nails into your weird thick grey skin  
TG: ready or not here i come   
CG: WHAT THE HELL IS *STRIDER WAGON OF FRIENDSHIP* EVEN SUPPOSED TO BE. WAS THAT A CONCUPISCENT ADVANCE YOU MADE THERE STRIDER. BECAUSE IT SURE AS HELL CONFUSED THE FUCK OUT OF ME.   
TG: what  
TG: no  
TG: nono dude no wait  
TG: it wasnt i meant it when i said it was a real thing that exists but no ugh  
TG: if i were to come unto you i would be way more classy oh my fuck  
TG: strider wagon of friendship is my pickup truck man  
TG: i was just  
TG: you know what thats enough shame for me today first the wobbly arms spaghetti and now this  
TG: you win vantas   
CG: I SHOULD TOTALLY BE THE ONE TO REMOVE YOUR HANDLE FROM MY TROLLIAN, SO I WONDER WHY I AM NOT DOING SO.   
TG: maybe because youre probably snickering at my expenses man  
TG: dont deny it  
CG: I AM INNOCENT UNTIL PROVEN GUILTY (:B 

  
–––  carcinoGeneticist [CG]  ceased trolling  turntechGodhead [TG] at 21:18 –––   


 

Karkat grunted, letting his head drop on his hands, and stared at the conversation with a mix of amusement and annoyance.

His parting line had been automatic, but the meaning behind it was a familiarity that even after years, was still there.

The words were enough to make his insides ache dully, words he had once used jokingly but that now simply _hurt_.

He shuffled a bit, then decided to let it rest. The fact that Dave still wanted to have him as a friend was almost reassuring. It had been a while since he’d met some new people, and it was… ok.

His stomach grumbled, which surprised him a bit –he never really felt like eating when he got into those low moods– but he decided to go for it, and moved to the small kitchen of his hive.

In the end, he simply made coffee and cut himself a slice of cake, but as a vast improvement from his usual overall lack of hunger, he decided to take it in stride.

Not having plans for the evening, he moved to his respiteblock to gather a few romcoms to watch, momentarily stopping by the computer on his way to the DVG player to glance at the screen, and noticed that there was a sea of red on his trollian window, indicating how Dave, instead of being a sensible person and letting him stay idle, actually wanted to talk more.

Trying to muster up some annoyance but utterly failing at it, Karkat scrolled up to read.

TG: karkat  
TG: hey karkat  
TG: wait was that your ending line  
TG: cmon not even movies have such shitty ending lines  
TG: vantass  
TG: come back dont leave me hangin here  
TG: im actually happy you got up we could chat  
TG: i could send you some good stuff  
TG: nasty rhymes and cat links from tumblr  
TG: or just cats rapping thats even better  
TG: dont tell me youre going to watch some shitty movie whats the point dude you could have accepted my invitation then  
TG: hey you dont have classes in the weekend why dont you come with me to the theatres  
TG: ill bring my friend and you can meet he likes movies too  
CG: YOU DO REALISE THAT SAYING *HE LIKES MOVIES TOO* IS SUCH A PATHETIC WAY TO CONVEY THE DEPTHS OF CINEMATOGRAPHY, RIGHT. THERE ARE, OH I DON’T KNOW, MORE THAN FIFTY FUCKING DIFFERENT GENRES AND I AM NOT EXAGGERRATING HERE IN THE LEAST.   
CG: AT LEAST IN REGARDS TO TROLL MOVIES, WHICH ARE OBVIOUSLY VASTLY SUPERIOR TO YOUR HUMAN COUNTERPART, BUT DO NOT LET ME DIGRESS.   
CG: HE COULD, I DON’T KNOW, LIKE ACTION MOVIES WHILE I ENJOY HORROR. OR HE COULD DAB INTO PARA-LINGUISTIC DOCUMENTARIES OF HISTORIC PERSUASION WHILE I DAB INTO THE VEIN OF INTER-ROMANTIC SCI-FI.   
CG: IT IS SOMEWHAT CONDESCENDING HOW YOU EXPECT TO SIMPLIFY THE MATTER OF GOOD CINEMATOGRAPHY. IT IS AN ART.   
CG: BUT LET US PRETEND THAT THERE’S AN OFF CHANCE OF OUR FILM PREFERENCES TO BE COMPATIBLE, INSTEAD OF BEING AS DIFFERENT AS GOLF AND BALLET ARE. DO YOU TRULY EXPECT ME TO GIVE UP ON WHATEVER PLANS I MIGHT HAVE HAD FOR THE WEEKEND SIMPLY FOR THE SAKE OF YOUR SUDDEN OFFER?   
TG: im not insinuating anything about your weekend and its lack of fun here  
TG: but alas we can get pizza first  
TG: lets meet in front of the subway friday and go from there  
TG: if we have more fun than whatever you wanted to do then well youre allowed not to tell me about it k?   
CG: DID YOU EVEN *READ* WHAT I TYPED, DAVE?   
TG: see you at seven?   
CG: …  
CG: OK.   
TG: sweet

  
––– turntechGodhead [TG]  ceased pestering carcinoGeneticist [CG]  at 21:41 –––  


***

“So I heard that you’ve made a new friend”.

Dave groaned into the pillow, stretching lazily under the covers and wondering if Rose would get the point if he simply closed the call then and there and went back to sleep.

Knowing her, that was unfortunately not an option.

Rose was Dave’s twin sister; instead of moving with Dave and Dirk during college, she’d decided to spread her metaphorical tentacle grimdark wings and find herself a nice apartment in New York, which was far too many miles away from where he was, and a couple hours ahead of him.

She was specializing in a few subjects, and while they often spoke through the use of Pesterchum (nice useful thing, Internet), she had groomed the habit of calling him at least once during the week because she liked to ‘hear about her dear brother’.

The choice of calling him specifically every Saturday morning, though, was simply because she was a passive aggressive little shit, and only knew how to show her familial love by using underhanded machinations and small prods.

Sweet, sweet family.

At nine in the morning without fail, she would pick up her phone and make a call, and it didn’t matter that for Dave it was seven am on a _Saturday_ –he was supposed to answer, or (as she had willingly demonstrated more than once) she would try calling on _Sunday_ at an earlier time.

“Rose,” his reply was muffled by the pillow, but he didn’t care one bit. “Can you just… not?”

“I mean, you’d think that being your sister, I would be the first person to know about a new addition to your friends’ circle,” she sounded hurt, and while Dave rationally knew that Rose wasn’t really meaning it, her tone still did funny little guilty things to his insides. Stupid brother feelings. “Instead, I had to go and ask Aradia”.

“So you just forced my moirail into a third-grade interrogation just to satisfy your greedy curiosity,” he grumbled, wiping some drool from his chin and snuggling deeper into the pillow. “Go you”.

“I was merely worried about your wellbeing,” Rose replied smoothly.

There were many things Dave wanted to reply to that –half of which were in rap form, and explained in fine rhymes how being worried about his wellbeing had nothing to do with jutting her nose into his business, especially since there wasn’t much to say about Karkat to begin with.

At least, not to Rose.

But he really did _not_ feel quite as awake as he would need to unleash his full word punishment on his sister.

“Well, his name’s Karkat,” he mumbled instead, yawning into the phone. “He yelled at me in the shop ‘cause I was staring at him”.

“Dave–”

“Not like that, sheesh Rose give a man some respect will you,” realising that he would get no respite, Dave shuffled out from his covers and stretched, cracking his neck a couple times. “If I had to ogle the man I would do it less blatantly”.

“So is there anything to ogle about him?”

“Rose, it’s seven in the morning, I’m not playing this game with you, seriously. The guy is as fine as one of the aged wines at Mom’s house, but I’m not interested. I just find him intriguing, ok? He’s loud but he’s funny to be around, so I invited him to see a movie with me n’ John, that’s all”.

“That’s not what Jane told me,” there was enough mirth in Rose’s voice that Dave flopped back down on the bed, almost nauseated. “She said you offer him pastries almost every day”.

“Oh Jesus I can’t believe you went and bothered Jane too,” he groaned, feeling hopeless. “Listen, we’re not doing this, not at this time. Karkat’s fine but he’s a _friend_ , and one that can rant about movies with John so I don’t have to bother faking interest. That guy is _precious,_ he n’ John fought for an hour on who was the best actor between _John Cusack_ and _Will Smith_ ”.

There was a soft, amused chuckle from the other end of the phone –whether at him or at the fact that it was almost impossible to walk away once John started his rant about movies, Dave wasn’t sure– but Rose seemed to accept his words, at least for the moment.

“As long as you are happy, Dave,” she replied. “You haven’t been on pesterchum for a while, so it was only my duty to find another source of information”.

Dave sighed again, the wave of guilt intensifying. He’d been busy with college lectures and his job, so he had actually ignored pesterchum all week, excluding his first conversation with Karkat –which was only because Aradia had fessed up about slipping the man his chum handle.

“Jeez, you know I can take care of myself, Rosie,” he replied, smiling a bit. He shuffled on the bed, resting his head on one arm. “But tell me about you –how’re you doing over there in the Big Apple?”

“Splendidly, Dave,” and there was a softened tone in her voice that told Dave exactly why her mood was so chipper. And for once, it didn’t relate to poking his non-existent private life.

“Oh, so the chick you’re in lesbians with has arrived to visit despite her busy schedule… I’m _so_ envious”. There was a giggle that didn’t belong to Rose, and Dave felt his lips twitch upwards.

“ _Dave_ …” Rose had known him for a long time, so he knew that her chiding tone was mostly for show.

Another voice in the background, “No, no, it’s fine!” with a small shuffle, the phone was handed to someone else with a soft giggle. “I like to be the chick in lesbians with you a lot, Rose”.

Dave snorted, but his lips settled on a warm smile. “Hey, Jade. How d’you find New York?”

“Busy!” Jade replied, tone still overly chipper. “There’s so many people around all the time, even at night! Did you know Rose lives two blocks away from a strip club? And they don’t even have a decent falafel place around Rose’s apartment, I had to walk around half an hour to get something vaguely tasty!”

“Yes, because you wouldn’t just wait for us to go to lunch together…” Rose interjected, her voice slightly muffled.

“But it would take you another _hour_ , and I was hungry _then_! Besides, you don’t even _like_ falafel!” Jade reasoned, almost whiny. “You would have insisted on going to some fancy restaurant where I had to dress well and behave!”

Dave grinned at the half heated commentary, deciding that it would be best to cut the conversation short while he still could. “Nice to hear from you sis, but I have more pressing matters to attend to, by which I mean food and maybe a shower later,” he commented. “Jade, you’re in charge. Smother my sister in tickles and hugs and lesbian kisses”.

“Yes sir! Shall do that pronto!” Jade’s giggle was the last thing he heard before the call was interrupted, but it did wonders to Dave’s mood.

Putting on his shades and finally standing up and wobbling out of his bedroom, Dave reached the sitting room to check on the damage.

Dave had been right, even with Karkat’s obnoxious and suspicious rants through pesterchum –the troll and John had hit it off splendidly, even though, in Karkat’s words ‘their movie taste was indeed as different as golf and ballet’. (Which, in Dave’s opinion, weren’t really different. They were both sports after all.)

The movie had been a huge success though, and after that they had hit the pizza place once more for refills, hungry for food that wasn’t sugary drinks and popcorn.

When their craving for greasy sustenance had been fulfilled and their bellies were sloshing with coke and cheesy goodness, they had crashed at Dave’s apartment.

John and Karkat were having a ‘serious’ discussion over which actress deserved an Oscar more –Dave had tuned them out pretty quickly, actually, not at all interested in the ups and downs of ‘famous’ people– and they had barely noticed, in their heated, friendly banter, that they had moved somewhere after the pizza.

Dave was sort of convinced that Karkat hadn’t even realised he’d been invited at someone else’s house. He had an inkling that in any other situation, the troll would have politely declined, but alas, Karkat had been busy discussing things with John and didn’t even take notice.

Spluttering curses at him, citing in detail why his taste in movies sucked ass, Karkat had been entirely blind to his surroundings, which was sort of amusing.

John had been the first to crash. He was usually the last man standing during all-nighters, but juggling between courses and his new job at the CD store had sucked him dry of all his energy, so Dave had expected it to happen.

When his main rival and opponent had started snoring on the couch, sprawled in a way that looked infinitely unpleasant (though Dave was used to John’s weird sleeping positions so it wasn’t a novelty anymore) Karkat had finally shaken himself out of his movie stupor, realising he was in an unfamiliar place.

Almost turning too quiet, Karkat had shifted inconspicuously towards the front door, wanting to get out and go home, but it was late enough already that Dave had felt worried about sending Karkat out on his own. Accompanying him would mean having to come back on his own, which was something he didn’t fancy either.

So, he’d offered the troll to stay for the night.

Karkat hadn’t looked convinced, especially since Dave couldn’t afford an actual recuperacoon, nor the physical space to have one in the apartment. Recuperacoons were rather expensive, and he wasn’t made of money. Having Aradia around though meant he had some alternate solutions for a troll. He’d put together an impromptu pile with blanket and other stuff he had around the house, and offered Karkat a couple sopor pills.

While high-priced on their own, having a small stash around for his moirail was overall less expensive than a recuperacoon –not to mention the costs of filling it with the slime and keeping it functional– and Karkat had gratefully accepted them, though still obviously uncertain about the whole situation.

Obviously sleeping over at a friend’s house wasn’t an everyday occurrence –not to mention they had just started getting friendly with each other– but Dave felt responsible, so this was the only solution other than calling a cab.

In an attempt to make the troll feel at ease, Dave had thus spent a couple hours discussing things with him –though not movies, as Karkat’s quota had been fortunately filled by John– until the pills had started taking effect. Karkat had thus passed out, curled inside his improvised coon, snoring softly.

Feeling satisfied, Dave had moved to his bedroom, crashing on his bed and falling asleep in record time.

So overall, a successful night.

Seeing his sitting room the next day, though, brought much less satisfaction. John was still snoring on the sofa, loud and unpleasant, and there were pillows and pieces of popcorn everywhere, not to mention the various cans of coke and beer scattered around.

Karkat’s pile seemed to be still in one piece though, and much to his surprise, he found Karkat awake and watching a movie on his small grubpad, his earplugs on.

With a quick glance at John, appraising his loud snoring and the way he kicked in his sleep, arms flailing around, Dave had to admit Karkat had every right to save his ears from that.

He squatted next to the pile and tapped one side, trying to get the troll’s attention without startling him.

“Yo,” he mouthed, smirking.

Karkat was startled at the soft tapping and turned around, blinking owlishly at Dave before his surprised face melted into a disgruntled one.

“Good morning,” he grunted as he removed one earphone, wincing when John snored again. “Didn’t pick you as an early riser at all, Dave –and holy god that guy, I can’t believe how loud he is, thanks fucking god for your sopor pills, or I would have been unable to sleep at all. What _is_ he?”

“A motorboat,” Dave replied easily, shrugging and deciding to casually _not_ mention how he was anything but an early bird. “You up for breakfast?”

“If it’s cereals, I’m going to pass,” Karkat wrinkled his nose. “Besides, his snoring already deafened me, I’d like to be away from that”.

“Let’s go get pancakes, there’s a place down the street that has the best apple pancakes you’ve ever tasted in your life, man. Let that be the start of me schooling you in the Way of the Apple”.

“Your unhealthy obsession with apples will be your downfall, I swear, they will rot your brain out until you’ll turn into one of _them_ ”.

“What, like a space alien pod, just with… apples?” at Karkat’s serious nod, Dave snorted. “Wouldn’t mind that”.

“You’re already far too gone, Dave, and here I was, trying to help,” with a small snort, Karkat extracted himself from the pile and stretched, wincing when his bones popped back in place. “Uh…”

“Bathroom’s down there, the door on the right,” Dave replied. “If you need to have a shower…”

“No, thanks,” Karkat hastily replied. “I can wait until I’m home for that. Oh, but hey, thank you for… letting me stay here”.

“No problem, wouldn’t have wanted you to get lost in the dark, bad things happen–”

“Oh, don’t you even start, _I_ am one of the bad things that could happen to you,” Karkat stomped towards the bathroom, rolling his eyes when he noticed that not even their loud speaking had managed to rouse John from his deep sleep.

Dave returned to his bedroom, now awake enough to appreciate how Karkat seemed more at ease now, not as stiff and hesitant as he’d been the previous night. Maybe sleeping over at a friend’s house was the way to break the last icy barrier between them, and Dave would not look at a gifted horse in the mouth.

He was still glad that Karkat and John had hit off so easily, though by their heated banter over movies he wondered if it was _healthy_ for them to even talk to each other.

With a snort, he pulled on a clean shirt and a pair of jeans from a drawer and combed his hair with his fingers, moving to the sitting room again to wait for Karkat.

The troll left the bathroom a bit later, glancing at John in surprise.

“Isn’t he supposed to come with us?” he asked, hesitant.

“Nah, nothing would wake him up. I’ll just bring something home for him or he’ll raid my cupboards for cereals, whichever happens first”.

With a shrug, Karkat followed Dave out of his apartment and into the street.

“You’ve got yourself a nice place, Strider,” the troll commented once they were out, breathing the cold air of the morning. “But your movie selection sucks my bone bulge”.

Snickering, Dave punched him slightly on the shoulder, and whilst the first reaction he got was a startled gasp, Karkat soon retaliated with a punch of his own.

“It wasn’t just _mine_ , but my ‘roommate’ moved out to live with his boyfriend, so the apartment was left to my own devices,” he explained. “I was living with my brother”.

“Oh?” Karkat didn’t quite seem all that interested, probably because for trolls words like ‘brothers’ and ‘sisters’ had an entirely different meaning, that did not relate to close family members. “Is he a douchebag like you, Dave?”

“Nah, he’s actually worse,” he replied easily, not bothered by the casual insult. “Dirk’s a bit of an asshole but he’s neat. I’m still glad he left, though, he used up all the hot water”.

With a snort, Karkat looked ahead, trying to spot the pancake house while Dave got lost staring at him.

The troll didn’t seem one to smile so easily, but there was a certain kind of softness in the way the corners of his mouth curved upwards, showing a row of dangerous teeth, that was almost _cute_ , in a way.

There was nothing ‘cute’ in Karkat as a person –he was rough, sharp and scathing, but Dave liked that, liked the on and off way they could banter about everything, and the offhanded insults that didn’t mean much.

Still, Dave had to admit that Karkat had an aura that spoke volumes of him. He walked like a fighter, relaxed instead of tense, something Dave could recognise, being one himself.

The edge of his face, the curve of his jaw –that wasn’t even _cute_ , that was just downright–

Dave halted his thoughts right there, carefully considering where his mind was going. Yes, he could appreciate that Karkat was good looking, and yes, it was because Rose had made him think about that with her words, but that was all there was to it.

He wasn’t interested in that at all, he simply liked Karkat as a friend –a good looking one, but still a friend.

His eyes flickered to the side for a moment before he shook his head slightly, and grabbed the phone from his back pocket.

“Gotta make a quick call,” he warned the troll as they entered the pancake house. “Just order whatever for yourself and get me the usual, they’ll know what it means”.

“Are you an usual customer _everywhere_ , Strider?”

“Are you going to forever shift between my name and my last name all the time depending on the mood?” he retorted, half focused on the troll and half on his phone ringing.

“I guess the answer to both is the same, then,” with a cheeky smirk, Karkat moved to a nearby stool and sat down heavily on it.

Dave snorted to himself and waited for Aradia to pick up.

***

Terezi idly hovered in front of the pancake shop, not paying attention to Dave and Karkat, who were still inside.

The two had ordered breakfast –something that smelled almost good to her, though as usual the strength of her senses was unbalanced and weak to the things that still belonged to the living– and were now having a heated debate over something.

She didn’t quite feel any sort of interest on the exact subject they were focused on, more interested instead on the complex mix of emotions swirling inside her. She’d often heard that ghosts ended up being unfeeling, but that wasn’t the case with her –she still had emotions, and at least that was vibrant, unlike the scents that permeated the air and were filtered by her senses until they were dim and absent.

She felt regret, and a deep bittersweet feeling at seeing Karkat smile, and most of all a slight tinge of jealousy curling inside her bloodpusher. She wanted to enter the pancake house and be part of Karkat’s life again, snicker and make fun of him like the old times.

Watch him slowly relax and enjoy himself again.

Terezi looked away from them to observe the sea of unknown people walking past; her senses stretched on, uncaring whether they had faces, simply concentrated on the crowd in itself, on the way they moved, letting the flow ease her mind; her fingers turned slightly more transparent, blurry and see-through, but she didn’t pay attention to that.

She heard footsteps coming close, until they stopped by the door of the building, and when she turned to gaze at whoever was standing there without entering, Terezi found herself staring right into the tea house’s waitress’ face, Aradia.

Blinking in surprise, her fingers sharply returning to their full visibility, Terezi floated closer to the ground, momentarily surprised.

“What are you doing here?” she asked, leaning forwards a bit.

“Dave…” she tilted her head slightly, motioning for the inside of the building, where Dave and Karkat were, their backs to the door, blind to what was going on outside. “He’s my moirail. He called me as I was about to leave because he needed something, so” she waved a small bag she was holding. “But he can wait some more! Do you want to walk with me a bit?”

Terezi glanced inside as well, tasting the air for a better view, then nodded.

“Sure you won’t look like a loon, talking to thin air?” she grinned teasingly, and Aradia pulled out a pair of earphones, shoving them in her auricular sponge clots.

“Phone call!” she replied with a broad smile.

Terezi snickered, and lowered herself until her feet were pressed on the concrete.

As a ghost, she had no weight, no need to keep balance with a body that did not need to hold itself up, but she enjoyed the pretence of being normal again; talking with a living, pretending to be able to walk instead of being an intangible spirit… it was all a ruse.

She wanted to maintain the impression of being alive, fool herself even if only for a short time.

“So you seem sad,” was the first thing the waitress said. “I’m sorry your afterlife isn’t as fun as it should be! Maybe you’d feel better pulling a prank on someone”.

Terezi shook her head. “I don’t quite work with the living realm, as they can’t see me, nor touch me, and it’s not fun when my tongue goes through something that looks interesting”.

The rustblood nodded, but there was still a smile on her face. “You haven’t been dead for too long then, have you? If you linger here enough, you might learn that you can interact with things and have fun!”

The news caught her by surprise, and Terezi glanced down at her fingers, lips parted in order to see their vague, unfocused outline, even more blurred by the fact that her eyes didn’t work, not even now that she was dead.

Still, despite the dimness of the world around her, the tastes and smells almost lost, she could still _see_ , in a way. Being dead was _weird_.

“I could try to teach you, or you could meet with one of the other presences,” Aradia suggested, smiling widely. “Some like teaching more than others, like the writer who haunts the library down the street… if you want I can take you there!”

On one side, the thought was intriguing –if she could interact with the world… but no, Terezi shook her head forcibly, not trusting herself with words.

The other troll seemed to understand, noticing the way her fingers were twitching, and nodded, simply turning around the corner of the street and marching down; the ghost licked her lips and followed her, glancing past the heads of the living sea surrounding her and doing her best to avoid passing through a few of them.

The feeling of being walked through was intense –like a wave of heat, colour and sensations, a bit more vivid, a bit more real– but at the same time she disliked it, because it didn’t last long, and the only thing it did was remind her how she wasn’t living anymore.

If she didn’t concentrate, it was like not even feeling them, but Terezi felt the impulse to keep up with the pretence, and refused to make it waver. Just for a bit longer.

“You’re haunting Karkat,” her companion said slowly.

Terezi glanced to the side, but now the other troll simply looked sheepish, almost sad.

“You care for him a lot, don’t you?”

“Yes,” Terezi’s fingers moved to her chest, where her Scalemate was already materializing for her to hold, a small reassuring presence. “I… I just want to see him happy,” she confessed, words coming out choked, strained and metallic.

“Is he not?” Aradia looked momentarily perplexed, her lips still slightly curled upwards, but Terezi was sure she understood all the same.

“He…” Terezi wasn’t sure what to say.

These weren’t matters that everyone could understand, especially since they pertained Karkat; beside, Aradia already had a moirail, and a living one, and making private confessions wasn’t something one could do with just about anybody. Terezi bit her lower lip, hesitant about opening up to this troll. She could see her, for the first time since her death, and the lingering sense of disheartened solitude was enough for Terezi to nod to herself, latching on Aradia despite not knowing her at all.

“He doesn’t want to move on,” she muttered. “He’s an idiot”.

Aradia’s face blossomed in a bright smile, which Terezi found somewhat weird, given the subject at hand, but she didn’t comment on it.

“He lost you, and he’s been coped up all by himself, is it so?” at Terezi’s determined nod, Aradia snorted. “Typical! I swear, Dave’s exactly like that too. So you want to stick around until he learns, right?”

Again, another curt nod.

“Understandable, and if I could, I’d help!” Aradia’s smile softened, now looking almost regretful. “But these are matters that I cannot touch, and you are set enough on your conviction that you wouldn’t accept to let go and just find peace, right?”

Another nod, this time a bit more frantic. “You wouldn’t try to do that without asking,” she stated, a lingering trace of wariness in her voice.

“Of course not! It wouldn’t be fun, and overall it wouldn’t help either of us,” Aradia shrugged. “Though you shouldn’t want to stick around… it might take a while, or he might never want to really let go of you, or just…” her unspoken words lingered in the air, silent, but Terezi caught them nonetheless. _‘Or he could finally move on, and wouldn’t that sadden you?’_

For a moment, Terezi thought about it.

Being dead was… different.

She couldn’t touch anything, nor be seen or talk with the living. She could fly, but her body was incorporeal, and it felt weird because it was still her consciousness moving around, even though the world around her felt twisted and remote and so distant from her.

The psychopomp had said that she could learn to do things if she lingered around long enough, which was at least a pleasing alternative to be ignored.

At the same time, though… Terezi was aware that she was dead, and had long since accepted it. It hurt to see that the only one who hadn’t done so was Karkat.

Karkat, who had retreated from his friends, who simply seemed to live without _living_.

Even in death, she still loved him enough to want him to be happy, even if it ended up being with someone who wasn’t her.

She nodded fiercely, her lips forming a smirk.

She wanted him to smile again, and be happy.

“Well, that’s great!”

Once again shaken out of her thoughts, Terezi stared at the rustblood with a baffled gaze, followed by a short barking laugh.

“You’re weird!” she cackled, moving forwards to prod her with a finger.

The finger, much to her surprise, found resistance in the living troll’s skin, and instead of passing through or being dissolved into the air, it felt _something_.

Terezi retreated, surprised.

She had felt the solidity of Aradia’s body. The first real thing that she could actually touch, and it made her feel at loss all of sudden.

She craved the sensation, but at the same time it made her wary.

“That’s another good side of being a Psychopomp!” Aradia grinned. “But I try not to let everybody know that!” and much to Terezi’s shock, she actually pointed at her with both hands, mimicking a couple of pistols as she winked.

“Unbelievable,” Terezi muttered, rolling her blind eyes behind her red shades.

She kept her desire to touch Aradia under control, refraining from moving too close to the other troll. In the sweeps following her death, Terezi had been unable to touch something that wasn’t a projection of her own ghostly self –like her cane, or Senator Lemonsnout, or her shades– and this new possibility was intoxicating, but also scary.

“So, did you FLARP while you were alive?”

“… is that even something you should be asking, miss I-can-see-Ghosts?” Terezi hesitantly extended her hand, and Aradia inched closer, poking the ghost in her ribs. Terezi snorted, rejoicing the small contact with the living even as she shied away slightly. “I thought you would ask me how I died, or something!”

Both shared an amused smile, a complicity born from not just necessity and circumstance, and then both started laughing loudly, uncaring whether the passers-by turned to look.

“Depends whether you’ll tell me the truth if I ask,” Aradia replied. “Some spirits enjoy convoluted stories more than the boring truth!”

“True that,” Terezi admitted, rubbing her fingers on her chin thoughtfully. “I never thought I could create something intriguing, but it’s just like FLARPing!”

“I knew you FLARPed!” there was enough delight in Aradia’s tone that it surprised Terezi.

“What, you aren’t going to want to FLARP with a dead soul now, do you?”

Her only answer was a cheeky smile, so Terezi laughed again, more amused now than ever.

“We should go back to our boys,” Aradia said after a moment, smiling brightly and turning back towards the main street. “Dave has the bad habit of eating a bit too many pancakes when he’s out, but I don’t think Karkat would enjoy being impressed like that”.

Terezi snorted and nodded, floating at her side.

She felt lighter than usual, with some sort of relief bubbling inside her chest, where that hollow feeling of loneliness had been, and the surge of warmth made her want to twirl around in the air.

Then, together, they moved back towards the pancake house.

 


	5. Chapter 05

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I had this chapter ready for a while but mistakenly thought I had already published it... uh... sorry about that. Next chapter's halfway written too. ^^

**Chapter 05**

 

––– turntechGodhead [TG] began pestering carcinoGeneticist [CG]  at 15:45 –––

TG: so remember the rapping cat vids i promised  
TG: hint yes i have some  
TG: you dont have to thank me  
TG: just enjoy  
TG: http://goo.gl/flD099  
CG: DAVE, AS MUCH AS IT MIGHT SURPRISE YOU, I DON’T HAVE TIME TO WATCH YOUR VIDEOS OF FELINES, NO MATTER HOW DISGUSTINGLY CUTE THEY ARE.   
CG: I’M IN CLASS RIGHT NOW.   
TG: so what  
TG: im in class too  
CG: YOU MEAN TO SAY YOU ARE PERUSING THE INTERNET FOR CAT VIDEOS WHILE YOU’RE IN CLASS. SMART, STRIDER, REALLY SMART. NEXT TIME, PLEASE START RAPPING WHILE YOU’RE AT IT, TOO. I AM SURE YOUR FUCKING PROFESSOR WILL FIND THE EXPERIENCE MIGHTY THRILLING.   
TG: what do you take me for  
TG: of course i already tried that cmon kark you know me  
CG: OH FOR THE LOVE OF THE ALMIGHTY, YOU DIDN’T JUST ADMIT YOU TRIED RAPPING IN *CLASS*.  
TG: yep  
TG: and not talking about creative class either here  
TG: im unstoppable  
TG: law books have my name written on every page  
TG: striders are above all rules  
TG: thats it  
TG: thats the trick  
CG: I CAN’T BELIEVE IM WASTING MY TIME STARING AT YOUR HORRENDOUS RED TYPING INSTEAD OF ACTUALLY FOCUSING ON CLASS. YOU ARE GOING TO MAKE ME FAIL MY SEMESTER.   
TG: yes because im basically a big bad wolf luring you lil red riding hood into the woods with promises of raps and cat links  
TG: and youre gonna fall for it hook line and sinker and sink deep  
TG: so deep troll archaeologists will find your body frozen solid under layers of dried cup noodles and old worn out cardigans with your fingers still attached to the keyboard  
TG: and a cat video on your old as fuck computer  
TG: that will be your fate man  
TG: and ill be cackling because all along that was my plan  
CG: I’M SORRY I MUST HAVE CAUGHT A BUG BECAUSE I SKIMMED THROUGH YOUR SEA OF IDIOCY WITHOUT SEEING A DAMN WORD WORTH READING HERE.   
CG: IT FEELS ALMOST AS IF, WAIT FOR IT, I’M ACTUALLY HERE TO FOLLOW MY LECTURES. WOW. DOES THAT SOUND PREPOSTEROUS TO YOU NOW DAVE. 

 

Dave snickered quietly into his hand, casting up a quick glance at the professor standing in front of the class, busy scribbling something on a piece of paper.

He could tell that Karkat wasn’t as busy as he said he was, especially since he didn’t seem inclined to stop the conversation from going on, which was actually rather pleasing.

The students around Dave were a mass of uninterested people, though there was, here and there, a poor soul that was actually taking notes on what was shown on the screen in front of them.

Dave had already memorized it, so being idle was the only thing left for him to do until the professor resumed his speech related to Carbon 14.

He looked towards the professor’s desk, eyes glinting with a special kind of interest at the three artefacts that the man had brought over to inspect for their lecture; he was too far to see the details, unfortunately, but he could easily recognise that the one in the middle wasn’t from a human or troll, by the length of the bone and the way it curved slightly towards one end.

He didn’t have much hope that the professor would let them inspect the bones, and when class ended he had to run off and buy something for dinner, which left him with a bitter taste in his mouth.

The slides on the screen shifted from the candid white from before to a close-up of a bone, labelled Exhibit A –a small, circular bone of a yellowish colour, rather well conserved– and Dave downloaded the slide on his computer from the college website, saving a copy inside his course folder.

Doing so, he realised Karkat was still talking, and smiled to himself.

 

CG: IT’S NOT LIKE I AM PAYING ENORMOUS AMOUNTS OF MONEY, PROBABLY ENOUGH TO FUND A LITTLE STATE FOR A MONTH, TO MAJOR IN SOMETHING THAT WILL MAYBE, IF I DON’T LACK THE NECESSARY LUCK AND SKILLS, HELP WITH GIVING A GOOD DIRECTION TO MY LIFE OR ANYTHING OF THIS SORT.   
CG: YOU’VE BEEN QUIET FOR A WHILE AND THIS SILENCE FEELS AS OMINOUS AS RECEIVING A CALL FROM MY LUSUS DURING THE WEEK PRECEDING MY WRIGGLING DAY FOR POSSIBLE MEETUPS.   
CG: I WONDER IF YOU’VE FINALLY CRACKED, YOUR LITTLE HUMAN PAN UNABLE TO CONTAIN THE INORDINATE AMOUNT OF INFORMATION CRAMMED INTO IT THROUGH YOUR QUITE EXPENSIVE CLASS LECTURES, AND RAN AWAY TO REJOIN YOUR ANCESTORS IN THE WILD.   
TG: nah man  
TG: i was just busy admiring some choice sample our prof brought to class  
TG: too bad we aint gonna see them up close  
CG: THAT REMINDS ME THAT EVEN THOUGH WE EXTENSIVELY SPOKE ABOUT OUR MINOR CLASSES, YOU’VE FAILED TO IMPRESS ME WITH YOUR ACTUAL CAREER CHOICE, WHICH IN RETROSPECT IS SOMETHING I SHOULD HAVE ASKED EARLIER ON.   
CG: I RECALL YOU MENTIONING IN PASSING THAT YOU HAVE TAKEN HISTORY CLASS BEFORE THE PROFESSOR WAS CULLED LAST SEMESTER.   
TG: yes it happened  
TG: interesting class till it lasted  
TG: too bad the guy had to get killed off because he cheated on his kismesis  
TG: you dont mess with the heart of a damsel  
TG: especially not one with a mallet  
TG: ill bother you about my choice course when we have some more time  
TG: let me just tell you that its about dead people  
CG: I VERY MUCH DOUBT YOU’RE GOING TO BECOME THE NEXT THRESHECUTIONER, THAT IS A JOB THAT I WOULDN’T LIKE TO SHARE WITH YOU.   
CG: HA, AS IF YOU’D BE ALLOWED WITH YOUR FRAIL HUMAN ARMS UNABLE TO EVEN LIFT A CRATE.   
TG: that was like weeks ago man why are you still so hung up on it  
TG: let bygones be bygones  
TG: but no thank you but no  
TG: im majoring in palaeontology fuck you  
CG: I HAVE TO ADMIT THAT TO YOU DAVE, I WASN’T EXPECTING IT. I’M ALMOST IMPRESSED. KEY WORD *ALMOST*.  
TG: i know how to leave a lasting impression yes

 

Karkat grudgingly had to be surprised. With all of Dave’s talk about music and rap, and how he was trying to hook up at a local DJ club for a job, he had expected that the human would be following that kind of career choice as well.

He knew that the university offered a few intensive, quality courses in music, but anthropology was quite the shocking revelation.

For a moment he thought about Jurassic Park, picturing Dave in place of one of the men working in the park, and then he shook his head, inwardly amused. Yeah, no, no matter what Dave said he couldn’t really see him in such a position.

 

TG: i bet youre thinking about jurassic park  
CG: I THOUGHT HUMANS DIDN’T HAVE MENTAL POWERS, STRIDER. HOW THE FUCK DID YOU KNOW THAT?   
TG: its a cult movie  
TG: like everybody has seen that  
TG: no stretch that youd know it  
TG: id make a nice alan grant admit it  
TG: i can recite you line by line his whole velociraptor monologue  
CG: I DIDN’T HAVE ANY DOUBT ABOUT THAT.   
CG: BUT SERIOUSLY STRIDER THAT’S QUITE THE POSITION YOU’RE ASPIRING FOR. LET’S KEEP THAT SUBJECT FOR ONE OF OUR FRIENDLY OUTINGS, I’M INTERESTED TO KNOW HOW YOU ENDED UP DECIDING THAT YOU’D MAKE A LIVING OUT OF DEAD MONSTROUS CREATURES WHEN THERE’S AN INSANELY NUMEROUS AMOUNT OF LIVING ONES BELONGING TO THE TROLL SIDE OF THE UNIVERSE.   
TG: id much prefer to dig my hands in bones rather than in a gaping maw ready to rip my arms off thank you  
TG: see i could have made a boner joke but i didnt  
CG: YES, YES, YOU WIN A DECENCY COOKIE.   
CG: COLLECT FIVE AND YOU WILL WIN A CONGRATULATORY PAT ON THE BACK FROM YOURS TRULY. 

 

Dave smiled again, amused at how easy talking with Karkat was. He reminded him a bit of John, and how well the two of them had hit off, idly poking fun at each other without animosity.

He looked up from his computer again and noticed that the professor was walking towards the front row, carrying one of the artefacts in his hands, and Dave silently pumped his fist up and down.

Yes. Perfect.

He cracked his knuckles and glanced towards the door, watching Aradia slip inside and sit down. The room was far too crowded for her to slide to him without disrupting the lesson, so he simply caught her eyes and waved down at her.

Aradia smiled up at him, bright and cheeky, and he felt some part of his chest uncoil like a happy kitten.

He watched her bring up her phone, and seconds later a new window popped up on his computer.

 

––– apocalypseArisen [AA]  began trolling turntechGodhead [TG] at 16:18 –––

AA: hey dave! s0rry for being late! what did i miss?   
TG: nothing much ara just a bunch of information that you can find online  
TG: but did you see the bones  
TG: hes gonna show them around cant wait to get my hands on some of that loot  
AA: if y0u d0nt have anything scheduled we can have a trip this weekend! i g0t a new adventure hat and a map!   
TG: hell fucking yes  
TG: lets discover some kickass dino bones  
TG: or eventually just a dead bird  
TG: i got a few new jars  
TG: so whyre you late today  
TG: is it supernatural secrets again?   
AA: m0re jars again 0_0  
AA: s00n they will replace me in y0ur heart Dave!   
TG: nah  
TG: no dead corpse in formalin will ever kick you out of my heart ara  
TG: look at me all mushy  
TG: i learned from the best  
AA: yes, i taught y0u well 0u0  
AA: and yes i had a resilient gh0st trapped in the m0rtal plan t0 take care 0f!   
TG: did you try to rope the poor soul into flarping with you  
AA: n0! it was a human s0ul this time! quite the disapp0intment  
TG: are you sure thats how its supposed to go when you send them off  
TG: bein all hey man wanna flarp with me before youre off  
TG: who knows how the other side is  
TG: you might never get another chance  
AA: shush dave let the psyc0p0mp d0 her j0b  
TG: yes maam  
AA: d0 y0u think j0hn will want t0 c0me?   
TG: nah  
TG: i think he got bored enough last time  
TG: even said hed prefer to eat betty crocker pastries than come with us  
TG: i pity him  
TG: in a totally platonic way  
AA: hehe, maybe he didnt like when y0u pushed him in the mud! :)   
TG: maybe  
TG: the details are blurred in my memories  
TG: could be that  
TG: or he could just be a whiny baby  
AA: y0u can ask karkat! im sure hed like t0 c0me!   
TG: ara i just met him  
TG: im not gonna invite him for a weekend in the forest  
TG: thats more like a fourth or fifth date  
AA: j0ke ar0und all y0u want but i think hed have fun :)   
AA: besides im your m0irail d0nt i get t0 give my stern appr0val?   
TG: is it you who gave rose the idea that im in it for karkats bulge?   
AA: n0 c0mment!   
TG: not funny  
TG: shes gonna harass me now  
AA: d0nt be a d00fus Dave  
AA: its just a j0ke!   
AA: y0u d0nt have many friends and im sure r0se is just happy t0 see y0u get m0re!   
TG: i have enough friends  
AA: apparently n0 y0u d0nt

 

Dave sighed, eyes sliding to Karkat’s window, for the moment inactive.

He didn’t like to admit it, not even to himself, but Aradia was right; he wasn’t open to new friendships, and he liked to maintain close contacts only with a handful of people. There were acquaintances, there were casual friends, and then there were the friends he trusted, a small number that almost never changed.

Karkat had happened without second thoughts, wriggling his way into Dave’s life, and he fit. He was good. He was cool, and Dave thought that if things went ok, he would probably become a great friend, too.

But yes, it was too soon to invite him to one of his and Aradia’s happy trips.

He saw one of the bones start his row and hastily flicked the computer cam on, wanting to get some close ups of the object when his turn arrived.

***

Karkat Vantas, 10 sweeps old, _really_ loved weekends.

It wasn’t simply because there was no course he had to be at, no crowded tram or bus to use to go to an equally crowded classroom, fighting against other cranky students to get a good seat.

There was the complete, utter lack of worries, no things he had to do aside for some leftover homework, no timetable to keep up with.

No roads filled with disgusting car waste, no people cursing in the streets, bumping into him, pushing him from one side of the crosswalk to the other.

No set time to wake up, because there was nothing to wake up to. He could be lazy, enjoy some more hours wasted in his recuperacoon, have the slime wash away his fatigue and make his muscles relax with its soporific torpor.

Karkat Vantas treasured each and every hour ticking by in the weekends, because he used them as a cure-all to restore his energy for the next week, spending his leisure time by watching a movie, eating fat, salty snacks or take-away food.

There had been a time, once, when weekends had been filled with stuff to do, with places to see and people to meet, but that was in the past, no more. Things were different.

Normally his hive was quiet, and sometimes, if he paused long enough to notice, too big for him. Rooms he’d never used, space he’d never managed to fill with memories. He usually never had to think too much about it, gathering all his things and finishing his work in his respiteblock, curled up on his bean chair or at the table, only leaving to get food or for a gaper load break.

In the weekends, though, when he didn’t spend a good chunk of his day out, he had no choice but to notice, to clean, to take a look around and feel the lack of someone who should have been there to fill all that space.

So, during the weekends, he was quick to draw the curtains close, letting a pleasant darkness cover up the blocks of his hive, making it seem smaller, more comfortable… less empty.

The television was already set on the movie channel, blankets ready in a cocoon on the floor, the popcorns placed in a bowl in front of him –sugar and salt, because who in their right mind should have to pick one over the other?– but there was still some time to spare before the film started.

To avoid getting bored, Karkat focused on his husktop, waiting for it to load fully before clicking on the browser and the trollian icon.

Both programs loaded quickly, and he entertained himself with checking his mail until a window popped up, alerting him that someone was talking to him.

 

––– twinArmageddons [TA] began trolling carcinoGeneticist [CG] at 13:56 –––

TA: hey KK  
TA: ii triied two talk two you the other day  
TA: but you were con2piicuou2ly ab2ent  
TA: wa2 that your way two hiide liike the braiinle22 grub you are two avoiid a 2smackdown iin our next game match?   
TA: becau2e that wiill not 2ave you KK  
TA: ii wiill polii2h the viirtual world2 floor wiith your viirtual carca22 untiil you beg for mercy.   
CG: IT IS AN ABSURD PLEASURE TO SEE SO MUCH DISGUSTINGLY YELLOW TEXT TAKING OVER MY SCREEN. I AM OVERJOYED THAT YOU TOOK SOME TIME IN YOUR BUSY SCHEDULE TO TALK TO ME.   
CG: IT FEELS ALMOST AS IF YOU TRULY *MISSED* ME. IS IT THAT WITHOUT MY VALID HELP YOU GOT YOUR SHAMEGLOBES KICKED LIKE A WEAKLING PUPBEAST? THE MIGHTY SOLDIER SOLLUX UNABLE TO EVEN FIND HIS OWN WAY THROUGH A GRUBGAME PLATFORM WITHOUT THE VALID SUPPORT OF A GAME BOSS OF MY LEVEL?   
TA: you can keep deludiing your2elf KK, that2 not a thiing that2 gonna happen  
TA: but 2eriiou2ly, where were you? we had an upgrade 2cheduled and you just vanii2hed  
CG: HUH. SHIT. I REALLY HAD STUFF TO DO.   
CG: NOT THAT I TRULY BELIEVE THAT MY HUSKTOP NEEDS ALL THOSE RIDICULOUS UPGRADES THAT YOU SEEM SO KEEN TO FORCE ON ME, ESPECIALLY SINCE IT IS BY NO MEANS AN OLD MODEL, THANK YOU VERY MUCH. BUT UH.   
CG: I’M SORRY, SOLLUX.   
CG: STUFF HAPPENED AND I LOST TRACK OF TIME.   
TA: whoa  
TA: 2hould ii take your apology a2 a 2iign of an iimpendiing apocalyp2e? ii thought ii would at lea2t get a warniing from the co2mo2, a vii2iion of doom two prepare my2elf for my unavoiidable grue2ome death  
TA: do ii get two 2ay goodbye to my bee2 at lea2t?   
CG: CUT ME SOME SLACK, FUCKPOD. IT’S NOT REALLY THAT WEIRD FOR ME TO APOLOGIZE.   
CG: IT HAS HAPPENED. A FEW TIMES.   
CG: I JUST HAD STUFF TO DO. YOU KNOW. LIKE. *STUFF*.  
TA: when you feel liike elaboratiing 2ome more, iit2 not liike ii have anythiing better two do. ju2t liike, 2pend a couple hour2 two level up my character or 2ome 2hiit  
TA: waiit  
TA: you werent tuggiing the bulge riight  
TA: iif that2 iit iill be happy to 2top thii2 conver2atiion riight now  
CG: UUURGH. NO. HOLY SHIT SOLLUX *NO*.  
CG: I’LL NEED A FUCKTON OF BLEACH TO BE ABLE TO SCRUB THIS UNWANTED QUESTIONING FROM MY THINKPAN. EXCUSE ME WHILE I GO HIDE MYSELF IN A REMOTE WASTELAND, NEVER TO BE SEEN AGAIN. WE ARE *NOT* HAVING THIS CONVERSATION.   
CG: FUCK NO.   
CG: I DO NOT UNDERSTAND WHY YOU NEED TO PROD SO MUCH INTO MY USELESS AND BORING LIFE, WHAT IS IT, IS TODAY THE LET’S ANNOY KARKAT AND BUTT IN INTO HIS LIFE DAY? OH, YES, WELCOME, LIKE I DON’T HAVE ENOUGH THINGS TO FUCKING JUGGLE WITH RIGHT NOW.   
CG: I WENT OUT TO WATCH A MOVIE, THAT’S ALL.   
CG: NOW CAN WE JUST FORGET THIS CONVERSATION HAPPENED, AND THAT YOU DID NOT JUST ASK ME ANYTHING REMOTELY PERSONAL PERTAINING TO MY EQUALLY LACKING SEX LIFE?   
CG: FUCKING THANK YOU.   
TA: waiit  
TA: you went out? a2 iin, left the hou2e? on a friiday niight?   
CG: YES, GRUBFUCK.   
TA: wow  
CG: OH, COME ON. LIKE I NEVER DO THAT. I’M NOT A SOCIAL RECLUSE, SOLLUX.   
TA: yeah, no  
TA: let me remiind you that la2t tiime you went out wa2  
TA: oh, ii dont know  
TA: duriing the bea2t age2?   
TA: iif ii remember correctly, moviie2 were 2tiill iin black and white then.   
CG: DON’T BE ABSURD, IT WASN’T *THAT* LONG AGO. 

 

Karkat looked away from the screen, frowning and feeling a wave of uneasiness roll through him, settling inside his stomach like a weight.

He shuffled uneasily and shuffled until he was sprawled on the floor, looking at the ceiling, and refusing to even consider what the yellow text meant.

Sollux was simply being his usual annoying as fuck, obnoxious asshole self. He remembered perfectly well the last time he’d left the hive to enjoy some time out. It was…

It was…

Slowly, his frown deepened. The fact that he couldn’t actually remember made the uneasiness inside him blossom into apprehension. He went out for groceries once a week, and he had classes most days of the week, but… but aside for that, when was the last time he had left his hive just for fun?

The apprehension turned into a cold claw gnawing at his insides as he forced himself to think back, through the haze that was his life after his loss, almost frantic, anxious. The sea of days, each of them tinged grey, bleak and lonely, doing the same things over and over from school to groceries to sometimes a quick stop at a nearby Starbucks, then back hom, TV-shows and movies and his husktop and lessons and homework and playing games.

There was nothing there that could disprove the bitter truth Sollux had forced him to finally acknowledge.

All he could remember was the same, exhausting routine.

He bit down on his lower lip, refusing to admit defeat, gritting his teeth against the very notion of being a recluse. He _wasn’t_.

He liked watching movies. He used to go to the theatre all the time to watch them, even if they were not new. Any good romcom rerun was fine; he’d seen all the new movies, especially the cheesy, romantic ones and obviously that meant he’d gone out at some point–

Karkat paused.

No, he’d watched them on his husktop, downloading any movie that he happened to hear about so he could watch them in his hive during the weekends.

He barely interacted with his classmates or his professor, aside for asking some question or clarification on some things. He did not make small talk, he did not go out with them for a drink, or just to buy a new game. He did not reach out for people because he did not see the point.

The band tensing up inside him snapped all of sudden, filling him with dread.

Ever since Terezi had died, he’d never left the hive aside for menial tasks centred on his survival –food, classes, the bare minimum.

He glanced to the side, and met the frozen gaze of Terezi from one of the photos he kept on the shelf. She was smiling there, but it felt almost accusing now, and he closed his eyes.

The memory unfolded in front of him almost as if resurfacing from the mist of his past; the last time he’d gone out for fun, his last movie, had been with her… when Terezi had been still alive.

A generic romcom, a human one –written by one of the very few human directors he liked, who could sneak hints of quadrants into his human romances.

He still remembered her amused, pleased expression, the smirk on her lips as they had taken two spots near the front, so she could taste the colours in the air better, and how she’d laughed at him for his emotional response to the movie while eating all the popcorn and asking for a refill twice.

They had walked back to her hive hand in hand, stealing kisses that tasted like salt and soda, giggly and happy and feeling like they were on top of the world.

That was the last time he had gone out to watch a movie, and it had been with her. His last movie.

“Shit,” he breathed out. “I _am_ a fucking recluse”.

The thought hit him like a mallet, and he blinked, returning his gaze to the ceiling.

It was one thing to mindlessly convince himself that his friends didn’t have time for him, hat it was better like that, and another to realise that he had been the first to not make time in his life for them, and for himself as well. Enclosing himself in a bubble that didn’t need anything else to function, except…

Except he _needed_ something else, but he’d been happily blind to that truth. In his pain, he’d built distance between himself and the only people who cared for him.

Terezi observed him, sitting in mid-air and fiddling with her fingers, and wondered what was wrong with him.

She had been idly following a raindrop roll down the glass of Karkat’s communal hive, watching as it raced against another drop, splitting and scurrying out of sight.

It was a rainy day, and it had been raining for hours already, turning the streets outside into a muddy land; there were a few cars driving down the road, their headlights flashing when they turned the corner, swallowed into darkness by the pouring rain and out of her world.

Terezi didn’t _mind_ rain –she’d liked its smell when she was still alive, even though it covered other more interesting odours– but now that she was dead, it felt like the world was trying to make her feel unwelcome, each drop passing through her, freezing her even more than her status as a non-living did. The tastes, already bland and diluted by the veil keeping her separate from the living, were non-existent, her vision stained by thousand raindrops falling from the sky.

It made her feel gloomy. Tired. Lonely.

Once, she would have been able to curl on her couch, maybe with Karkat at her side, cuddling and discussing the merits of ordering take-out… but even that, now, was precluded to her.

Floating towards the husktop, Terezi spied Karkat’s conversation with Sollux, and nodded; Karkat finally going out, spending time with other people, enjoying a movie, living… it had been a while since he’d done that. It was good that Sollux, in his usual ungraceful way, had pointed that out for him.

When she’d been still alive, breathing and capable of holding his hand in hers, feeling their skin touch, fingers intertwined, they had gone on so many dates together.

Terezi remembered those days fondly, if in a detached way –she ached for them to be back, but she also knew they would never be, lost into a past where she was still breathing and Karkat still happy.

To see a defeated look in his eyes whenever he thought about her, when in the past her name always brought a smile on his face, was devastating.

She observed Karkat return to his typing, and sighed.

 

CG: OK SO WHAT. MAYBE IT WAS A WHILE AGO. I DON’T NEED TO GO OUT ALL THE TIME. FUCK THAT SHIT. I AM NOT SURE IF YOU FORGOT IT, BUT I HAVE A BUSY SCHEDULE, AND I NEED TO COMPLETE MY COURSES AND ASSIGNMENTS IN ORDER TO DO SOMETHING OF VALUE IN THIS LIFE.   
TA: oh, 2orry KK  
TA: ii diidnt know you were 2o bent iin followiing my 2tep2  
CG: WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU SNIFFING, YOU BULGELICKER. YOU MAKE NO AMOUNT OF SENSE.   
TA: ii am very plea2ed that you want two become more liike me. coped up iin your hiive all day  
TA: ii 2eem two remember a tiime when you expliiciitly told me that ii wa2 2uch a dii2gu2tiing piile of hoofbea2t shiit, and that ii 2hould get my flat ar2e up before ii 2tarted growiing cobweb2  
TA: ii 2hould have known iit wa2 ju2t a way two compliiment me

 

Karkat rolled his eyes.

He understood Sollux’s point –he knew that the other, despite the snarky remarks, was looking out for him. It was almost saccharine sweet (and quite disgustingly so), but Karkat _understood_. He was also grateful, in a way.

They’ve been friends for a very long time, after all.

Unfortunately for Sollux, Karkat also had no real strong motivation to go out when there was no reason to do so.

He’d long since started associating everything good in his life (and he knew, he just _knew_ , that something good for him wouldn’t last long but just that once he’d hoped to be _wrong_ ) with Terezi, so when she’d been ripped away from his arms, nothing else made sense anymore.

What good would it be to go out to watch a movie if Terezi wasn’t there to laugh at his emotional distress over fictional characters and their romantic tangled quadrants?

What good would it be to walk around, see stuff, places, if he couldn’t have her at his side to share the view, the tastes?

It wasn’t a conscious thought, but now that he looked back to the first, bleak period after his loss, it was the most obvious reason why he’d pulled away from his friends. Everything hurt, because everything reminded him of her, and he didn’t feel right having fun if she wasn’t there.

It was probably not a very healthy reasoning, but it was what had happened.

When Dave had managed to get him out, Karkat had enjoyed himself for the first time since then. He had not associated anything with Terezi, and he’d honestly spent some time having fun. First with the movie, then the pizza, the company, even his conversation with Dave’s friend had not been awkward.

Since now he had to force himself to face things, he realised he’d been craving some interaction with other people for a while, but he’d never done anything to start, passively letting things go. And with his friends, it was even worse.

Maybe it was shitty to face all this, but it was also the truth. Even if he hadn’t done much with Dave, other than a couple times out for coffee and their usual, easy conversations online, it just felt good, and that was it.

He honestly enjoyed spending time with the dork, and he looked forwards to seeing him more often, a break from his wanted isolation.

And that scared him.

It didn’t feel _right_ to have fun again, not without Terezi.

Karkat wasn’t stupid. He knew this coping mechanism, this attempt at ignoring the truth until it slammed in his face, was wrong. It was just making things hard for him, but it was difficult to find motivation to do anything aside for the bare minimum.

He wasn’t throwing away his life –he still had goals and aspirations, and it wasn’t like he was giving up on them. But having fun… that was different. Losing Terezi had been like losing a limb. It hurt, and you learned to cope with the absence, but it never turned out to be any easier.

For a long time he’d missed Terezi so much that every breath hurt. He’d woken up every day in his recuperacoon expecting her to smile down at him, teasing him for sleeping in.

Slowly, it got better. He still indulged in this bleak limbo, but it wasn’t like he was ruining his life, and his friends were busy anyway, so he didn’t have a reason to go out alone, right?

Now, though… faced with someone new, someone who didn’t know shit about him, an outsider... adding that incognita, Karkat was forced to face things instead of pushing them away.

Facing the fact that he was indeed ruining his life, like that. And he’d pushed his friends away with hollow reasons that were worth nothing.

He felt guilty.

This wasn’t really living. Not if he was dragging himself on. He’d closed off and fed the pain with his loneliness and he’d convinced himself that it was ok, and he knew that he would have continued doing so had he not met that douchebag in an oversized coat hanging out of a patisserie.

Having fun felt good. Relaxing with people, enjoying a moment where the usual pain wasn’t there. Part of him wanted him to give in, to go back to spend more time with Dave, reconnect the loose threads of his friendship with Sollux, and maybe be a little more honest with his moirail. He wanted to feel life again. Have fun and be… selfish.

Another part of him wanted to curl up in a ball in his respiteblock –was going out really worth it? Would he forget about Terezi? Well, no. That wouldn’t happen. But would that be fair? Have fun when she was…

Then there was the last part of him, lethargic and tired, that wanted him to just give up and continue like this. He couldn’t give up but he didn’t have to make an effort to socialise. Being by himself, becoming what he wanted to be, dedicate this to her memory… wasn’t that fine? It was better than giving a fuck about things that would probably get ruined if he did.

He didn’t want Dave to keep on pushing, trying to make their friendship work.

Did he even like Dave, or had he just latched on the first available person because he wanted out?

“No, fuck that shit. Past me, you are an asshole if you think that’s true,” he chastised himself loudly, standing up and pacing around the room, movements mechanic and barely restrained.

Dave was ok, and he knew it. He honestly enjoyed the company, and denying that was a horrible thing to do. he wasn’t shallow, and second-guessing their growing friendship would be the coward way out, simply an excuse to end things and return to how it was before.

But being forced out of his lull, of his habits, was tiring. It took all of his energy to keep up with things, and his life was not prey of monotony anymore.

He stopped in front of one of the many photos of Terezi scattered around his block.

She was wearing one of her favourite shirts, a colourful horror that Sollux had given her as a gift, mostly to poke fun at her, but against all odds she’d fallen in love with it. It had all the colours mashed together in splashy dots and spots on all its surface, including a neon pink blot on her shoulder that Karkat always said looked like a ghost about to eat her head. She looked happy, energetic –full of life.

Not knowing what would soon happen.

He stared at her blind eyes for a long moment, unaware of the fact that Terezi was present in the room, and had slid towards him, placing herself between him and the photo, looking right at him, mouth slightly open.

“I’m sorry I’m doing such a shitty job at living on,” he muttered to the photo, feeling silly for talking with someone who was not even there. “It shows that this is just another way life likes to fuck me over, isn’t it? Let’s count the ways we can kick Karkat Vantas to the ground. I lost you and now I’m losing myself, too. This isn’t even fucking fair”.

He paused for a moment, looking away from her photo.

His insides clenched painfully, and he inhaled deeply, trying to calm down. This wouldn’t do.

“I make my friends worry… even the ones I barely met,” he recalled Dave’s worried face, the way he’d tried to keep away, to leave Karkat his space. What a fucking nice person. “And I’m sure that you’d kick me with your cane for turning myself into a fucking recluse, heh”.

Terezi nodded vigorously, pushing her glasses up her nose. “Yes, I _would_ if I could touch you,” she admitted. “I’d send you down on the floor and then sit on your chest until you learned to behave”.

It was almost stupid –they were both trying to talk to one another, but there was no way for them to communicate. They were holding one-sided conversations, destined never to hear from one another anymore.

She shook her head, feeling a wave of sadness circle her. She knew that there was no way Karkat would listen to her –the fussy, nubby idiot. She loved him, him and his stubbornness, his mood swings, his anger, his articulate vocabulary and his love for stupid romcoms… but he wouldn’t change, not even if Terezi herself asked Aradia to talk to him in her place.

Karkat needed help, yes… but not from the dead. Nor from anybody. He needed to want the change himself, to latch to people again, to remember that he deserved to go on.

“You stupid candycorn grub,” she whispered, tone full of warmth. “Don’t push everybody away… _please_ ”.

Karkat gritted his teeth again, turning back to the computer.

He needed to be the one to do something, wasn’t it?

 

CG: HEY. DOUBLE OBSESSED FREAK. DO YOU THINK YOU HAVE SOME TIME FOR THAT GAME NOW?   
TA: well… ii wouldnt know KK  
TA: wouldnt your popcorn go 2tale whiile ii kiick your 2hameglobe2 wiithout mercy?   
CG: PLEASE, DON’T ACT LIKE YOU’RE NOT FUCKING PLEASED TO HAVE SUCH A WORTH ALLY IN YOUR PARTY, WE BOTH KNOW WHO BRINGS HIVE THE MOST LOOT BETWEEN US, SOLLUX. DON’T DELUDE YOUR STALE THINKPAN INTO BELIEVING YOU ARE GOING TO WIN.   
CG: BESIDES, I WILL EASILY MANAGE TO HAVE A TASTE OF MY POPCORNS WHILE I SNIPE TREASURES FOR MYSELF.   
TA: iit2y biit2y KK ii2 feeliing competiitiive? Are you up for a challenge then, iidiiot?   
CG: SHUT YOUR MOUTH AND KEEP THAT FORKED APPENDAGE YOU CALL A TONGUE PRESSED AGAINST YOUR FRONTAL TEETH. YOU’RE GOING TO GET POUNDED SO HARD YOU’LL BE UNABLE TO SIT FOR A WEEK.   
TA: ugh, gro22

 

Karkat bit his lower lip, observing the words on the screen with hesitance, then nodded to himself. This was… ok, maybe. Well, not really ok, but passable.

He could not really face his loss, not now, not yet. But… he could reconcile with his friends at least, make an attempt to make this shitty situation a bit less shitty so he would at least say it was not his fault things had gone worse.

He couldn’t change his feelings or make everything go back to how it was before. That path had long since closed its doors to him.

But he didn’t want to keep going on like this. Alone, tired, lonely and sitting in the dark.

He had to believe that the world wasn’t out to get him, just this once, and see if life would kick him while he was down, or not.

To start, small steps would do.


	6. 06

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm doing Nanowrimo with a mix of fanfiction and originals this year, and this fic is in the list of things I'll be writing for, so there will be another update this month for sure!

**Chapter 06**

It was a particularly sunny day, the morning quickly changing to noon, and the people still out in the streets were hurrying to get away from the sun.

The air was growing hotter, and with no clouds in sight the light was almost blinding.

Terezi, who had been dead for a while already and could not really feel the warmth of the sun, tilted her head up with a disdainful sniff and slowly levitated towards a small shop in the corner, where the ample red curtain angling above the entrance provided a semi-decent protection from the annoying light.

Mouth hanging open, she kept her attention idly focused on the passers-by, following them as they walked by the shop.

The bland taste filtering through the veil never stopped her from wanting more, and today she was feeling pretty good, for being dead. The living were always interesting.

Even in her state as a ghostly spirit, Terezi still had a range of emotions she could feel, though something had indeed changed since her passing; emotions passed through her like she was an empty container, they came abruptly to her and left just as quickly, so she could still feel anger, or sadness, but they did not usually linger for too long. The only one that was almost always present was her worry for Karkat, and she guessed that was her particular grief that tied her to this plane, or something.

Because of this, the giddiness she felt at the moment was so acute it made her almost jittery, threatening to make the world around her seem even blurrier than it already was, but at least this giddiness was definitely better than some of her gloomier bouts.

The reason for this particular rush of happiness was simple, and she was reassured of the fact every time she turned around, seeking someone who was not here –she had left Karkat on his own for the first time ever, or at least, for the first time of her own volition.

Resolute to take Aradia’s suggestion, Terezi had decided to let her anchor behind and explore a bit.

The convoluted tangle of their one-sided relationship was mostly what had pushed Terezi into this action, especially considering how both of them needed some time alone… even though Karkat was never aware he had company all the time. But it was, sadly, needed. Terezi did not want to think about a time when she would not be there with him, but that time was going to come and Terezi… she did not want to linger around forever. It was not fair. She wasn’t there because of an obsession, or because of a curse. She was just worried, but once that was done, once Karkat was on his way to be happy again, she could also move on.

It was her decision to stay behind and see things through, because she cared for her matesprit enough to want to postpone her own resolution. For a bit, at least.

And… she had the feeling that Karkat had just taken the first step down the road of recovery, and the thought was also part of why she wanted out.

Aradia’s words –would _she_ be ok if Karkat did move on?– echoed through her mind, taking an almost physical form, and he pushed them away, holding onto her cane with all the determination of the young Legislacerator she had been.

It wasn’t a good thought, even for a ghost, to mourn for things like that, but… nobody wants to be left behind, not even if it is for the best.

She needed to build up for her own continuation too.

One of the first things Terezi realised, once lost within the streets of the city, was that it was a very different experience when she was not focused on a single mortal.

Her surroundings seemed to blend and then rush forwards around her if she stopped paying attention, and if her focus shifted on something –like maybe the trace of a particular smell, a vague scent or colour– she found she’d moved without floating, like distances didn’t matter if there wasn’t a human at her side to make them real.

This was why she had to stop often, forbidding herself to drift away without noticing –really, a prosecutor had to be attentive all the time, least lose an important clue– until she was ready to move again.

When she found herself in front of the Tea shop Aradia worked at, her primary stop, Terezi was surprised to see that it had taken her barely half an hour to get there, despite all her breaks.

The thought should have scared her, but it didn’t.

She shimmered through the window pane and glanced around but much to her disappointment she could not see Aradia inside. The barman was still the same –blueblood, tall and grim– but there was another waiter there, cleaning the tables.

Lost for a moment, Terezi let her thoughts astray, then moved out of the tea shop and focused on a troll that was walking down the roads, heading left. If she allowed herself to travel without a fixed point, she would get truly lost, but Terezi wanted to stick to this part of the city, at least for now, so she needed an anchor.

Holding her attention to someone who was not Karkat was not easy, as she was used to him, to the way he moved, his personal signature and faint smell; following a person she wasn’t familiar with meant having to focus more than she had expected, and as such her attention on her surroundings wavered.

The troll only walked for a little bit, turning around a corner at the end of the road, and Terezi blinked, noticing there was a garden behind a tall metallic fence. Deciding to stop there, Terezi parted ways with the troll and floated inside the communal garden.

The trees offered a cool shade on the path across the garden, spreading further inside, and Terezi smiled to herself, following the path and keeping away from the sunny patches.

She didn’t really have a destination in mind –though she remembered Aradia saying there were other spirits in town, and that she could find them if she paid attention– so it was easy to just let herself float by.

The garden didn’t have many visitors at this time of the day, just some human mothers with their children and even a couple small lusii with their grubs, and Terezi observed them for a while before turning her attention on the ponds, some with ducks, some with fish inside.

It was pleasant, and for a moment Terezi allowed her mind to leave Karkat behind. Oh, it was easy –even though her reason to stay was _him_ , it was so easy to push him out of her mind for a bit. She could do that with frightening ease, even going as far as to ignore her past life, and her living friends, and forget them all. It was almost unfair since this detached attitude was linked with being a ghost, living Terezi had never cut ties with her friends or her matesprit.

They had always been important to her, and now even though Karkat was the reason she was still around, even he could be pushed to the back of her mind if she was not wary.

Unfortunately, Terezi was no more part of the living, and she was different, and she had no guilt for the way her thoughts could so easily focus on other things unless she willed them to.

There was a vibration in the air, and that alerted Terezi that her moment of peace was being disturbed by something.

It was like a slow exhale, only it happened to the air around her, making her sneeze. When she opened her eyes again, someone was sitting on the bench under her.

Eyes wide open, she immediately parted her lips to taste the faint smell of the living, but was instead surprised by a wave of different scents assaulting her senses, just as strong as they had been while she had been alive; one was that of carved wood and lacquer, another was that of white plastic hair, something familiar that enveloped her entirely, then the smell of liquorice sticks and gunpowder.

The figure was small, would have looked like a kid if not for the fact that it was not a human, nor a troll. The skin was completely black, like polished plastic, but not plastic at all, and the eyes were white without pupils or irises, relatively small compared to the shape of the head. Terezi observed the creature, surprise holding her still, sniffing so many details that she was momentarily overwhelmed.

Finally, the assault of smells lessened, and Terezi shook herself out of her trance, lowering down to the bench slowly so not to scare the person away.

White eyes moved to look at her, obviously _seeing_ her, and a small smile appeared on the creature’s face, a wrinkle in whatever that polished skin was.

“What… who are you?” curiosity taking the best of her, Terezi hovered inches from the ground, observing the weird creature. It was wearing some sort of purple-ish clothes, but they were partially covered with what looked like yellow police tape, so the details all came out like a blurred mashup of colours to her.

_‘AR,’_ he replied, though there wasn’t really a voice. He looked away from her, focusing on the pond in front of the bench and observing the ripples in the water.

One duck, attracted by a small insect on the grass, waddled their way, and AR’s eyes followed it.

Terezi considered the two-letter word for a second –where those the initials of his name? Was it a foreign name? What creature was it? She had never seen anything like it, at least not on Earth. She wondered if this ‘AR’ belonged somewhere in space, one of the many beings inhabiting their galaxy that neither trolls nor humans were familiar with.

Earth wasn’t exactly an open port for intergalactic diplomacy, as it barely allowed humans and trolls to live together, especially as trolls were not genetically Earth’s children. The Troll Empire reached out to planets far away, colonizing them through the universe, leaving behind some of its children to grow and continue to expand further. Humans had barely started moving to the closest planets in their system when the first motherships from the trolls had found them, and at first communications had been tense and worrisome for both races, but in the end they had managed to settle differences, even if slowly, and in the following fifty years both species had thrived together.

Humans had used troll technology to reach out of the Milky Way, and trolls had gained a growing ally in their travels, and even if things were still bumpy on the road, they were getting there.

Still, that did not mean the two species were the only ones travelling through space, it only meant it was rare for other races to reach Earth as opposed to any of the other planets that were more open to alien encounters. Having otherworldly tourists station on Earth sometimes wasn’t unheard of, just _very_ rare.

But this creature, this AR, was closer to Terezi than he was to Karkat, or Dave, or even Aradia. He was not alive anymore, just like her. A spirit.

“AR, ok,” she smiled, surprised but gleeful at the meeting. “Do you haunt this place?”

AR’s eyes returned to her, wide and surprised, and he quickly shook his head, looking frantic in his attempt to dispel her words.

“Ok, no haunting then, too bad!” she cackled at his affronted face. “Don’t look at me like that, haunting doesn’t mean anything bad! I am the personal haunting presence of a dear friend of mine!”

AR shied away from her a bit, and she couldn’t restrain another amused chuckle.

“Don’t worry, little guy, I just waiting for him to start living again. His distasteful stubbornness is just like a pickle covered in honey!” she made a wide motion with her arm, exaggerated enough that it seemed to relax her companion a bit. “But I guess I do make a good impression if he’s unable to forget about me, isn’t it?”

Wrinkling the space where his nose should have been, had he been a human (or a troll), AR made a soft, whiffy sound, accepting Terezi’s casual joke.

_‘Waiting,’_ he finally answered Terezi’s question. _‘I’m waiting for someone’_.

Terezi perked up at the thought of seeing more of AR’s companions, perhaps of the same species even; she smiled, tapping her cane against the ground and striking an expectant pose. “If they’re coming soon, I could hang around a bit to greet them, wouldn’t that be nice?”

AR shook his head minutely, a small smile on his face. _‘No,’_ he replied, a fluttery feeling that felt like smelling freshly cut grass. _‘Not coming yet’_.

Terezi wasn’t sure what that meant exactly, but then her senses zeroed on something AR was holding on his lap–a small, wooden judge hammer with fading edges, perfectly painted and glossy. He was fumbling slightly with it, almost an unconscious motion, squeezing his small claw-like hands around it.

That was such a pleasant surprise that she bounced up on her feet, twirling around and staring down at the surprised face of AR with a wide, honest smirk. “Your Honour!” she gasped out, covering her mouth with one hand in mock-surprise. “It seems we might have a lot more in common than I first thought! I hope you don’t mind if I stick around some more now, do you?”

AR looked at her sharply, then down at the little hammer he was holding, and his eyes widened almost comically, his face breaking into an excited smile.

Oh, it looked like he didn’t mind in the least.

***

Mondays were, for Karkat, a by-product of hell.

He had never wavered from this conviction, as he’d collected enough proof during his earlier years to last for at least a lifetime more, and every start of a new week only rekindled the feeling, like a never ending cycle of loathing and despair.

The fact that on this particular Monday morning he didn’t feel like burning down a building, and instead felt almost ok with getting out of his recuperacoon and into the street, was possibly a first for him… and if he remained true to himself, also the only exception to the rule.

The reason for this weird uplifting mood was to be found in the past weekend, spent reconnecting with one of his best friends, not to mention in the long cam-conversation with his moirail that followed that. He had been feeling disconnected from him for a while, both because of his own reluctance to talk about Terezi and because his moirail, due to his shade of blood, had been stationed on a facility orbiting Earth for the past perigee and a half, where he was being instructed by his peers; Karkat had been unable to admit that there was a problem between them… until now.

Karkat was still fond of him, and definitely still felt pale for him, but the distance was straining their moiraillegiance and Karkat’s own attitude wasn’t making it any easier to mend things up, but with his new attempt at being proactive, Karkat was hoping that during his next leave Gamzee and himself would be able to reconnect, and maybe start to fix things.

Considering Gamzee had another quadrant filled, Karkat had often pushed him to spend time with his Auspistice, but this time would be different, and he had requested him to come down on earth so they would talk. He had not wanted to sour his moirail’s off-time with his own fluctuating moods, but now… with things between them the way they were, he had been honest, and told Gamzee they needed to talk.

Gamzee had been more than appreciative, in his clumsy way –it was obvious he had been worried, but wasn’t sure how to start working around that with the distance between them, and had promised him they would talk.

While the idea of facing his moirail sent a thrill of worried apprehension down Karkat’s back, he knew this was the right thing to do, and he marked down the day on his agenda. Just two weeks left.

With that settled, the rest of his weekend had been… quiet, Karkat settling back down into his usual routine as a way to gather some energy back from his self-imposed socialization. It wouldn’t do to force himself too much, because Karkat knew himself and he knew it would only make him revert back.

Coming Monday, he found himself looking forwards to his usual visit at Dave’s workplace, both for the pastries and for his friend’s presence, as Dave had been completely absent on trollian during the weekend.

He didn’t quite ‘rush’ to Crocker’s Pastries, but his pace _was_ faster than normal, and it resulted in him arriving at the shop with a few minutes to spare compared to the previous days, peeking from the glass window to see where Dave was.

Terezi floated behind him, cracking her neck and pushing her head through the glass pane to take a hopeful sniff, and both were quite disappointed when they could not find Dave anywhere inside. Instead of seeing his familiar blond hair at the counter, Karkat noticed his friend John standing there, looking somewhat disgruntled as he served an old lady some croissants.

Karkat frowned a bit, almost expecting to see Dave pop up from behind the backdoor, then pushed the door open and entered the shop, breathing in the now familiar aroma of sweets and freshly baked goods.

John turned to look at him, and there was a sparkle of recognition on his face as he waved at him. “Hey! Nice to see you!”

Karkat automatically looked down at the pastries on display, and pointed at the usual one with a finger, feeling somewhat awkward. “Hey,” he replied half-heartedly.

He had only talked with John a couple times, really, and one of those he had been discussing his dubious tastes in movies while at Dave’s house. All he remembered about him was his love for muscly actors and action movies, and that was it. Not exactly enough to hold a casual conversation with him, by any means.

He watched in silence as John fumbled with his pastry, having it slip twice out of his tongs before he finally put it inside a bag and handed it to him with a sheepish smile. Karkat snorted and paid, still not sure what to say; John on his own had absolutely no trouble holding a small conversation though, because he started to chat about the weather, how it was getting colder, then about college, prompting Karkat to answer with monosyllables, impressed with John’s chatty attitude.

It was only when John made a casual joke about Professor Lodge getting close to his second leave of absence for the month that things clicked inside Karkat’s mind, and he finally recognised John as the one helpful student that had alerted him of Lodge’s erratic lesson plans on the day he’d met Dave.

That was really embarrassing, because John was quite unique and not one to easily disappear in the background, but Karkat wasn’t a people-troll, and he didn’t really pay attention to faces unless he absolutely _had_ to. Still, John did not seem to even notice Karkat’s sudden epiphany, so maybe it was better like that, without him embarrassing himself further.

Nodding along with the joke, Karkat felt some of his reservations about John dispel and he asked him about his own classes, feeling pacified with the established link; since the shop only had another client other than Karkat, and the woman was now busy perusing the displayed selection of bread, Karkat felt he could spend a couple minutes to make up for his horrible memory.

“Things are going ok, just the same ol’ boring shit,” John shrugged, but seemed cheery despite his words. “Having trouble finding a job, bet you get me, huh?”

Karkat nodded, grimacing. While his scarce finances were properly administrated and he wouldn’t go hungry anytime soon, having some sort of income would make him able to indulge sometimes. Unfortunately, not many places hired nowadays, especially students with no experience. Same old, same old.

“Aren’t you working here?” he had to ask though, moving to the side of the counter so the woman could finally purchase her bread.

John lost a few minutes catering to the client, shuffling around obediently and bagging her selection before cashing her money and waving her out of the door. When he was done, he returned his attention to Karkat, and shook his head.

“Nah, I’m just substituting for Dave. Don’t get me wrong, this extra money’s useful, but I’d rather work anywhere _else_ but here. Unfortunately, Dave really needed some help, so…” he trailed off, noticing Karkat’s confused frown, and his eyes widened. “Oh, of course! You don’t know!”

John’s entire demeanour changed to one of unadulterated glee, so much that Karkat was left baffled at the sudden switch.

“Wait, did something happen to Dave?” Karkat felt the beginning of a worry knot inside his stomach, but John’s amused attitude soothed the worry before it fully formed. As his friend, he wouldn’t laugh if some serious misfortune had happened to Dave, right?

“Weeeeeeeell…” John motioned for him to scoot closer, as if wanting to share a juicy secret.

Karkat snorted, but did inch closer to listen, and unbeknownst to both, Terezi also leaned in, just as curious and with an expectant grin.

“You see, this weekend Dave n’ ‘radia went out for one of their usual exclusive field trips…” at Karkat’s resurfacing confusion, John waved his hand. “They just go dig stuff from dirty places, it’s as boring as it sounds. Icky,” he rolled his eyes, then continued, “As I was saying they were gone to have one of their _icky_ boring weekends out, and well, Dave got too excited for what ended up being plastic forks peeking from a muddy slide, and… well, to be faithful to Aradia’s tale, he rolled down a slide like he was born for that, then slipped right at the bottom and broke his arm”.

Well, John’s words were sure to make Karkat react, since he wasn’t expecting that at all. He backed away, concern replacing his worry, but all he got for his obvious distress was a small snort from a very nonchalant John.

“He’s fine, he’s _fine_ ,” he said, downplaying the situation in a way that made Karkat stare at him with a perplexed frown. “Dave’s used to broken bones. He got up like it was nothing and was actually disappointed when there was no undiscovered skeleton waiting for him, so they had to cut their trip short,” he shrugged, unimpressed. “Long story short, he’s not allowed to work here at the bakery for at least a week, and even if I don’t want to be here, friends obligations made me reconsider. Alas, the money’s appreciated, you know?”

With that, John straightened his back and wiped his hands on his apron.

So far, Karkat’s thoughts on John had been positive. He was a cheerful fellow, even if his taste in movies was a bit lacking, but now he was starting to wonder if he wasn’t a bit of an asshole or something. What friend took the news of broken bones so nonchalantly? Well, maybe one used to it, and Karkat had the feeling that in a similar situation, Sollux would behave probably the same, downplaying the situation because, after all, it was ‘just a broken arm’, while Karkat would flail around like a fishbeast out of water.

Realising he would run late if he stayed any longer, Karkat fidgeted and looked towards the front door. With Dave, he’d never had to mention he needed to get going, because Dave seemed to know exactly how long Karkat could stay, and always seemed to know when to cut the idle chat, but with John it was different, and even though he did not want to be late, Karkat also did not want to seem uncouth.

“I have to go, or I’ll miss the start of the lesson,” he told John, who nodded and made a shooing motion.

“Yeah, keep up that perfect attending score mister!” he replied with a smirk, then hesitated. “Maybe afterwards you can go see Dave, if you have time. I’m sure he’d like that”.

Karkat blinked and nodded absently, and John’s face split into a smile. “Perfect! I’ll tell him you’re going after class then!”

Spluttering slightly but not having enough time to take back his assent, Karkat left the shop and hurried down the road, hoping he would get there in time to pick a good seat.

He had been caught by John’s suggestion without being able to say no, but he didn’t mind going to see Dave after class… he was a bit worried for him, and at least this way he would see the extent of his injury and see if he could do anything to help, he was just a bit sour because he had thought about going on his own, but now it would seem like it was John’s idea, and that… made it seem a little less genuine.

Damn it.

Behind him, following him as usual with a slower pace, Terezi smiled to herself, and idly wondered if Karkat remembered where Dave’s house was.

***

Finding Dave’s apartment, contrarily to his expectations, seemed to prove to be difficult.

Karkat had visited only once, but he had thought that finding his way back there would not be too hard, even if he hadn’t been paying attention to the way there last time.

Back then he had been so busy discussing movies with John that he hadn’t thought to look around and locate landmarks, and of course he had totally forgotten to ask John for an address, and Dave hadn’t been online either, so he couldn’t have asked him during class.

The situation wasn’t entirely helpless, because if push came to shove, Karkat could just as easily return home and declare the mission a failure, but he did not like the idea, so unless it was necessary, he would keep looking around.

Dave’s neighbourhood was nice, though –a far cry from where Karkat lived, a more secluded area with only a few hives here and there, mostly belonging to trolls; this was a human neighbourhood, with only a communal building that looked like it could host trolls just as well, and the houses were tidy and neat, but lacked the garden space that most troll hives had.

It was expected, as humans did not need to accommodate much in terms of space, definitely no lusus, but in case of college buildings, the gardens were reduced in size in order to fit more hives in the same lots, so to save up space.

Karkat’s hive was cheap for the price he’d been asked, and he was thankful for all the help that having a highblood moirail offered him, because without him, the rent would have been doubled even if he was living there on his own rather than with his matesprit.

As he searched around the street for something he recognised, Karkat idly wondered whether Gamzee would agree to share the living space, in case his job with the Empire didn’t pan out the way he wanted it to.

Gamzee was not a naturally violent troll; his belligerent instincts were seemingly absent, and it wasn’t because of his childhood consumption of sopor in form of pies, but simply because there was a switch inside his brain that was always off, no matter what. His superiors had tried more than once to switch it on for their own devices, but nothing had worked. Gamzee had remained the same placid, vacant asshole Karkat pitied dearly, and he was grateful for that.

With a career as a violent highblood precluded to him, Gamzee had been recruited for more menial tasks, and he spent most of his time learning his future duties away from Earth, probably because his superiors had still yet to give up on him.

He had seemed so promising, but he had failed to perform the way they wanted him to, and the rules in place prevented them from culling him right away. His blood was important enough as it was.

Thinking about Gamzee coming to live with him was just wishful thinking, though. Karkat honestly expected Gamzee to find himself a matesprit at one point, and then perhaps go live with them… and he honestly did not expect their relationship to come out intact from the serious conversation due in two weeks anyway.

They’d have to wait and see.

Karkat was busy pondering over that when he heard a voice call his name, and he shook himself out of his thoughts, glancing around until he located the person trying to catch his attention.

He recognised the building right away, and looked up to see Dave waving at him from the second floor.

“Oi Karkat! The door’s open, come up!”

Relieved to see he’d gotten there without getting lost, Karkat used the stairs and reached the correct floor in less than a couple minutes, finding Dave waiting for him in front of his apartment door.

There was a sling around his neck securing his arm in a plaster, and he was amused to see that the cast was a bright pink colour.

“Trying to set a new fashion?” he said first thing as he approached his friend, and Dave sneered at him.

“I don’t have to create new fads, I _am_ the fad”.

“Sure, keep telling yourself that”.

Dave led him inside, and had him sit down on the couch as he moved to the kitchen. Karkat scrambled to follow him when he realised Dave was planning to get him a drink, and forced his friend to sit down instead while he fixed himself a simple glass of water, glaring at Dave until he stopped fidgeting.

“It’s going to be fine, it’s not my first broken bone,” the casual tone made Karkat feel a vague annoyance. “It itches but it doesn’t hurt and I know how to work around it”.

“Last time I heard, humans don’t heal overnight,” Karkat replied in kind, looking as annoyed as he felt.

“Special case,” Dave snickered, but then gave up, lifting one hand in surrender. “Don’t worry Karkat, Ara’s taking good care of me. She’s gone now for work, but she promised to get dinner when she’s back”.

Karkat grudgingly backed down at the mention of Dave’s moirail, but not pacified with his nonchalance he decided to stick around for a while, just a couple hours at most. After all, Dave was spending time by himself, and Karkat had nothing else to do.

“Man, I’m glad you decided to come though I wasn’t sure you’d remember where my house was. John texted me a while ago to let me know, I hope he didn’t pressure you into coming here,” Dave patted the sofa at his side with his healthy hand, then stood up and moved to a corner of the room, rummaging through a box of stuff until he found what he was looking for. “He’s an asshole but he covered for my shift, so he can’t come to entertain me, and didn’t want to let me die here in complete isolation or some shit”.

Dave turned around, flashing Karkat a smile, and Karkat snorted in amusement. He guessed Dave had some good friends.

“Hey, I’d suggest us to play a game but,” he nudged his cast with a sheepish look. “Do you want to sign it? I have a lot of sharpies in the other room so c’mon! Give me a hand, oh you strong, buff knight of mine”.

Karkat snorted but followed Dave to the other room. He had a vague recollection of coming here, but he hadn’t wanted to pry much the first time, so he glanced around curiously at all the knick-knacks Dave had scattered around the shelves.

There was a collection of what looked like rocks on a polished wooden dresser in the corridor, but at a closer inspection Karkat realised they were actually fossilized plants and even a nautilus ammonite one, pretty well preserved.

“Found those myself,” Dave looked pretty proud of himself as he noticed what Karkat was looking at. “Don’t get me wrong, I’m holding out for something bigger than these small things, but I was eight when I found that one,” he pointed at what looked like a six-leaf stem impressed into a small slate. “It was the first time I’d seen this kind of shit and I felt _so_ proud of it”.

Karkat tried to picture Dave at that age, but the mental image was ruined by the fact that all he could picture in his mind was a replica of today Dave, only with way bigger shades slipping down the bridge of his nose… maybe thinner and scrawnier, too.

There were three doors in the corridor, all close, and Karkat had to marvel at the size of Dave’s house once again. His own was big, but that was because he had plans to live with someone which had gone unrealised, but…

“Did you say you used to live here with your familial bond?” he asked, glancing at the pictures on the wall.

“Yeah, my bro Dirk,” Dave answered, pointing at a particular photo in a frame next to the bathroom door. “This guy here is his boyfriend. They’re living together now, but have had a couple problems in the past and he’s returned here once last year for a couple months before giving it another go,” he shrugged.

The guy in the picture looked like a carbon copy of Dave but with a wider jaw and darker hair, not to mention a pair of weirdly pointed shades. “Is that a family thing?” he had to ask. “Your brother looks even worse than you do. What’s with that?”

“Irony, man,” Dave said, mock-serious. “Had a pair myself, but John apparently set out on a personal war against them and saved up money until he could buy me these babies I’m wearing now”.

Karkat sent out a grateful thought towards John, because he wouldn’t have taken Dave seriously at all with a pair of shitty cartoon-y shades on, not even a bit.

There was another photograph on the wall, and this one had four people in it.

Karkat observed it curiously, because it looked like this was all of Dave’s family, and it didn’t strike him as strange that there was no adult present in it until he remembered that humans did not have lusii to take care of them, nor benefactors set through organizations like Karkat had when growing up.

One of the four people was, obviously, Dave, but Karkat had some trouble distinguishing him from his brother considering they were both younger in the pic, around maybe four sweeps old, and both were wearing the same pointed shades. Karkat had to restrain an undignified snort at that. The other two people were both girls, skin a shade darker than Dave and much to Karkat’s relief, neither wore shades.

“That one’s Rose,” Dave pointed at the one with a black cat in her arms. “She’s my twin. The other one is Roxy”.

“You have a twin?” Karkat examined the photography with wide eyes, as genetic setups like that were exclusive to mammals, not trolls. “Where is she now?”

“Studying in New York, living the life in the Big Apple,” Dave pushed the door at the end of the corridor open, and Karkat peeked inside, curious. “Up there man, the sharpies are in the boxy over the shelf”.

Dave’s room was probably the most interesting part of the house, and Karkat stopped right in the middle to take a good look at everything.

There were mixers and other music-related setup scattered everywhere, with a big amplifier in a corner of the room next to the biggest stereo system Karkat had ever seen.

“Should have known you would be into that shit, Strider,” he commented, noticing how the walls were padded to ensure there was no noise escaping the room.

Dave’s smile was wide and genuine, and Karkat directed his attention to the shelf, filled with CDs (who even used CDs anymore?) and random books, and of course the box Dave had mentioned, right on top of everything else.

Karkat reached out and pulled the box off the shelf, encountering no problem whatsoever, and discovered a small mine of colourful sharpies inside, together with other tools of the trade, plus what looked like a library ID. The photo on it could only ever be described as ironic, because otherwise it would only qualify as possibly the worst picture ever taken for an ID card, with Dave looking like he was in the middle of a sneezing fit.

“Didn’t strike you as a library kid, Dave,” he waved the card under Dave’s nose, making him squeak.

“My ID! I had to issue another copy since I had lost mine! Shit, now this one’s pretty much useless…” there was a flush on his cheeks, clearly because of the state of his picture, and Karkat chuckled, poking him.

“C’mon, Mr. Photogenic, let’s make an art piece of this crappy cast of yours”.

“I’ll let you know my selfies are always top tier quality,” Dave sniffed in reply, and they both left the bedroom to return to the sitting room.

***

Despite his determination to stick around only for a couple hours, by the time Aradia finished her shift Karkat was still with Dave.

They had spent at least one hour squabbling over what to draw on Dave’s cast, because Dave wanted something that would look like a statement but did not want to do any work on it himself, citing irony as his reason while Karkat called him out of it, then Karkat had started to write in Alternian on the corner, until Dave had grabbed his hand and tried to get him to draw pretty little penises all over the rest of the arm, despite Karkat trying to tug his hand away.

After this silly game of Penis Ouija Board, and Dave’s pink cast properly covered in Karkat’s scratchy scrawls, they had moved on to greener pastures and started a marathon of a troll TV–series on Dave’s computer, much to Karkat’s pleasure.

Most of the nuances of troll romance were somewhat lost on Dave, especially those related to blackrom, but it seemed Dave was an avid fan of pale relationships, because he seemed to catch those instantly, and it was almost endearing to watch him rant about them, and how over the top most of this drama was.

Karkat was left wondering, more than once, about Dave’s relationship with Aradia, and how the two had bonded like that, but he refused to ask about it, feeling like it would be too personal to know.

“Blackrom is a bit too much for me,” Dave stated after a particularly vicious ploy from one of the main antagonists backfired on him on screen. “Had a guy try to engage me in one once… he was in my lit class, dabbed with mixing tapes like me you see… shit turned nasty because I didn’t even think he was coming onto me until he tried to kiss me after class,” Dave awkwardly tugged one edge of his shirt up, revealing a small scar on his side. “Beat the shit out of him because he thought I was playing hard to get, forced him to apologize and asked to move classes… a shame, I liked the course”.

Karkat whistled. He hadn’t had a chance to peruse his own black slow, and all the people he met didn’t quite seem up for the challenge, but he knew that trying to engage a human like that was against the rules. He said so, feeling angry on behalf of his new friend, but Dave simply shrugged.

“Shit happens, really”.

Karkat was about to say something, when Dave’s phone started ringing, and Dave fumbled with it.

“Yo”.

Karkat watched Dave’s face melt a bit, and knew instantly that there was Aradia on the other side of the phone. What he didn’t expect was for Dave to turn to look at him expectantly. “Oi, Ara asks you what you want from the Thai take-away, she’s stopping there to get dinner”.

“What? It’s too early to– holy fuck, it’s this late already?” with a surprised glance at the clock, Karkat shuffled to his feet.

“Shhh, it’s fine, you can stay for dinner and then you can go back home afterwards with your stomach full of delicious Thai food,” Dave freed his hand to try and stop Karkat, but his phone slipped from the crook of his neck and Karkat’s hand darted out to grab it.

Hearing Aradia’s voice from the phone, Karkat held it to his own ear. “Dave? Dave? Is Karkat staying for dinner? Does he like chicken with peanut curry?”

Karkat curled his nose a bit. “Uh, I don’t really like curry, can you get beef satay with extra grub sauce instead?”

“Duly noted!”

“Aradia, get an extra portion of ginger pork! You ate it all last time and I didn’t even get my share!” Dave hovered behind Karkat, trying to get his phone back.

With a giggle, Aradia closed the call.

Karkat grunted and flopped back down on the sofa, fidgeting a bit. “Let me know how much I owe you, ok?”

“We get a discount cause the owner is a friend of Bro,” Dave reassured him, strengthening his conviction that Dave knew every single restaurant owner in the city.

Dave and Karkat returned to their marathon, exchanging scathing comments about the actors of the series, which ended up in Dave trying to swat Karkat with a pillow for daring to test the bonds of moiraillegiance of a couple Dave liked, and Karkat retaliating with shoving Dave down on the couch –mindful of his arm, of course– until Dave called ‘uncle’.

When Aradia arrived, delicious smell of freshly cooked chicken spreading in the air and eliciting twin growls from their stomachs, the three of them moved to the kitchen to eat, with Aradia adding her personal addition to all the crude penis on Dave’s cast by drawing Indiana Jones hats on each one of them, effectively ruining the effect and forcing Dave to erase them all with a pout.

The fact that Karkat was having fun did not register until he was on the door, ready to leave, and Karkat only dignified it with a thought when Dave lingered with him outside of the apartment, poking his shoulder to attract his attention.

“Thanks for coming man, I was pretty bored before you arrived”.

There was an embarrassed smile on Dave’s face that made Karkat realise that even if he was pretty used to getting broken bones, it was still quite the shitty situation for him, and not a pleasant one, especially with having to take it slow with things.

“I had fun too,” he replied easily as a way to reassure his friend, but it was surprising how much truth those words held for him. “We should finish up the show next time”.

As the two boys awkwardly chatted in front of the door, Aradia waved at Terezi from the kitchen, and the ghostly troll made her way there with a smile.

Unfortunately for her, Terezi couldn’t exactly join in the fun, and even if watching romcoms was something she could enjoy just the same as the two boys on the couch, the inability to interact with anybody was getting to her nerves, especially since Aradia was aware she was there but was equally unable to chat due to Karkat and Dave’s presence in the room.

“I’m sorry,” Aradia offered her a small sheepish grin, which Terezi returned with a wry grin on her own. “It’s not an ideal situation, huh?”

“No, not really,” Terezi turned around, spying Karkat’s honest smile from her position, and her grin turned a little more heartfelt. “But it’s nice to see that butt look so relaxed, sooo I don’t mind!”

“Yeah, and he kept some company to Dave so I didn’t have to worry”.

Terezi noticed Aradia’s quieter tone, and had to ask, “Is he ok?”

“Huh? No, of course, it’s just a broken arm!” Aradia shrugged. “It just brings back bad memories, that’s all. I didn’t want to leave him alone while I was working, that’s all”.

Terezi nodded, deciding not to pry.

“Tomorrow I’m taking a break from work to exorcise a ghost,” Aradia spoke up quietly, glancing over at Dave and Karkat to make sure they were still talking. “If you come by around ten, you can come with me!”

At the offer, Terezi perked up. “Count me in!”

The two smiled at each other, then Karkat turned around to look at Aradia. “I’m going, thank you for having me!”

“Hey! It’s my house not hers!”

Aradia smiled brightly. “But I’m the one who provided dinner! You’re welcome Karkat!”

Dave made a show of pouting and shuffling back inside, with Aradia ruffling his hair gently, and Karkat glanced at them one last time before finally leaving the building, out in the cool air of the night.

He sort of envied Dave’s relationship with Aradia, because he could see her often, every day, while his own moirail was somewhere above him in the orbit, close yet too far.

This abrupt longing startled him a bit. He had always been ok with Gamzee being away, but with admitting the current problems they were facing, and fixing a date for them to talk them out, Karkat guessed he had finally recognised that he wanted something like this… an open moiraillegiance, and not a long distance one.

Unfortunately, while fixing his pale quadrant could be done if both of them wanted it, Gamzee still had a lot to do. That would have to wait for a bit longer at least.

With these thoughts fluttering in his mind, Karkat quickly made his way to his hive, Terezi idly floating behind him.


	7. Chapter 07

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As I promised, another chapter! This fic has been my primary object for this year's nanowrimo so I'm already ahead of a couple chapters (currently writing the ninth) and I'm glad I've caught this bug ;3

**Chapter 07**

Terezi had been unable to rest during the night, constantly checking the time as she made her way through Karkat’s apartment, waiting for morning to come so that she could make her way to the café where she was going to meet with Aradia.

Even if she was a ghost, Terezi had no idea whether spirits could sleep or dream. All she knew was that there were times when her consciousness wavered a bit, losing its focus, and then it was back. She counted that as resting and regaining some energy, and during the nights when Karkat wasn’t awake, she cycled through this ‘sleep’ often; this time though she had been far too excited about the prospect of following Aradia to see how she worked.

She was positively glowing, fluttering in the air above Aradia’s head so much that the edges of her feet and fingers were blurry, and she kept shifting ahead, even though she did not know the way, because she wanted to hurry along.

Aradia, who had changed out of her work attire and was now wearing a normal set of clothes, could not help but smile at her companion’s happiness, which seemed to seep through to her just as well.

They were walking through a residential area of the city, close to the centre and located minutes away from one of the most famous tourist spots, and all the buildings were very new, some restructured in the last fifty years to adapt them to the influx of trolls to the city, but at this time of the day most of the people walking in the streets were human, so Aradia was sticking out like a sore thumb.

They walked past what looked like a small local store that sold troll delicacies, and Terezi lost a couple seconds sniffing through the merchandize before returning to Aradia’s side.

“Where are we going, Miss Ghost Catcher?” she finally asked after a few more minutes spent wandering around aimlessly.

“I’m not really sure,” Aradia admitted with a hum, rummaging in her purse and unfolding a note.

Terezi glanced down from above, and realised it was an address, the name of a place and someone’s name scribbled neatly on the bottom.

“I was contacted via e-mail,” Aradia continued, apparently unperturbed by the fact that she had no idea where to go. “I do not give away my address like that, but the recipient was given my name by someone I have helped in the past, and it seemed like an urgent request. I usually find the spirits on my own without having to go through the living first, so this was an exception!”

Terezi nodded. She had never been into this part of town, not even while alive, so she did not recognise the address at all, but she floated higher in the air, trying to use all her senses to help her friend locate their target.

The road abruptly split in two right past a cinema with a huge billboard of a new animated movie, and Aradia hesitated over which way to go, left or right. Terezi floated ahead, scanning the buildings on one side of the street.

She was beginning to think that they would never find the place, when she was assaulted with a pungent smell of tangerine and mint that made her stagger back, mouth parting to breathe the unexpected scent in.

Her ability to smell was only amplified around beings that were like her, as AR had explained to her during their chat, so Terezi smiled and floated back towards Aradia, waving her arm in the air and calling her name.

“This way! Smells like teen spirit!” she cackled, and Aradia’s amusement tasted like a pleasant apple pie to her.

Well, too bad Dave did not have the ability to smell emotions like Terezi did, or he would have been pleased with this particular one.

Much to both Aradia and Terezi’s amusement, the name on the note was that of a huge gambling corner, whose advertising banner was sea themed, with a scantily dressed human pirate female standing on a deck with a treasure chest by her feet and scattered coins all around her.

The name, aptly fitting, was Blue Ocean, and the gambling casino was mostly visible from the other end of the road, thus why it had been so hard to find from the direction Aradia and Terezi were coming from.

“I wasn’t expecting a gambling parlour,” Aradia observed the exterior of the building in all its tackiness, and quirked her lips in amusement. “I wonder what kind of ghost would want to stick around a place like that”.

“Maybe someone who lost everything they owned because of gambling problems!” Terezi suggested, the prospect of finding out more making her smile.

She had been, after all, on her way to become a legislacerator, and that meant getting nose-deep into this sort of thing, sniffing out on every nook and crane to find out the truth, and bring it to light.

Even if it was something simple like this, the chance to uncover a mystery was calling to her, and Terezi was grateful for this chance to interact once again with things she had liked while alive.

Aradia asking her to come… she was grateful for this chance, even if in the end the ghost happened to be a lady dead of heart attack, or something even more trivial. The chance to do something with someone who could see her… yes, it made her happy.

“Let’s get inside,” Aradia tapped her gently on the shoulder , and Terezi smiled at her.

The inside of the casino was even heavier on the nautical theme than its billboard outside, and even with her dulled senses Terezi could easily smell the cheap paint and the plastic everywhere, and it made her wrinkle her nose in displeasure.

The walls were painted a washed out blue, wooden columns soaring up to the ceiling to resemble a ship’s poles, and even the floor was covered with wooden boards, which creaked unpleasantly under Aradia’s shoes as she walked inside.

The only things clashing with the pirate setting were the actual slot machines and the gambling corners, new and shiny and smelling of metal and money.

Despite the fact that the casino was open, there were no clients whatsoever anywhere in sight, which Aradia took as a good thing –it would prevent anybody else from interfering or riling the spirit up while she tried to understand what was wrong.

There was a higher platform at the opposite end of the room, which brought to another room, to a row of stairs covered with a red carpet and to an unassuming elevator hidden behind some plants and barrels.

Right next to the entrance of the casino there was a counter where an attendant wearing an eyepatch and what looked like a Halloween pirate costume was stationed. Not really the best of portrayals, and more like a B-movie stereotype, but Aradia had seen worse.

Noticing her entrance, a tall human wearing a similarly tacky cabin’s boy costume approached Aradia with what could pass for a decent pirate sneer.

“Ahoy, and welcome to the Blue Ocean Casino, miss!” he greeted her with a horrible ‘pirate accent’. “Would you care to exchange your treasure for some casino fiches?”

Aradia politely shook her head, stifling a smile. “I’m here for an appointment with Mr. Doyley,” she told the guy. “I’m Aradia Megido, the Psychopomp”.

Instantly the man’s attitude changed to one of relief. “Oh, Mister… I mean, _Captain_ Doyley was awaiting your arrival, Miss Megido. Please follow me, this way”.

Aradia and Terezi exchanged an amused look as they both followed the cabin boy across the casino, through an emergency exit door and into a side corridor, until they stopped in front of a simple unassuming door.

They were let inside an office, where a short man with a moustache greeted Aradia with a tense smile.

“Miss Aradia,” the man said, motioning for her to sit down. “Thank you for coming here…”

Terezi’s attention, already wavering out of boredom, was abruptly pulled away from the human by her senses flaring up in recognition, the same tangy smell as before beckoning her out of the small office.

Knowing that Aradia was going to be briefed on the case at hand, and knowing she did not really care about that, Terezi followed the smell instead; she passed carelessly through the ceiling and into the first floor of the building, looking around and trying to locate where the unknown spirit was.

The first floor was an exact replica of the lower ground, only it had bigger tables for other kinds of games, like blackjack, dice and poker, and the room was just as empty as the rest of the building… except it wasn’t.

Terezi blinked, the air seemed to contract and then expand in a spot above the dice table, and then there she was.

To Terezi’s surprise, the ghost was that of a troll, and by the looks of it, she was around the higher middle of the hemospectrum, much like Terezi herself; she was wearing a pair of round, thin glasses but also an eyepatch on her left eye, and even more surprising, one of her arms had a metallic shine, sign that it was not a real one but a prosthesis.

The unknown ghost, as of yet unnamed, turned to look at Terezi with barely restrained glee, edges flickering slightly and a smirk on her face, fangs poking from her lips in a way that spoke of danger –danger which was mirrored in Terezi’s face, as she responded in kind with her own fanged smirk.

Terezi was not one to be outdone, not even by fanged smiles.

“Weeeeeeeell, look here, we’ve got a trespasser!” turning to look at Terezi, the other ghost flexed her fingers in the air, the metal hand absorbing the light coming from the windows without casting any reflection on the floor.

“And here I thought I would have to sniff you out, seems like you were begging to be found!” Terezi extended her arm, fingers curling around her cane and feeling its weight as a comforting companion. “This is really a subpar haunting place filled with small fishes, makes me think you are also one small fish yourself”.

The foreign ghost laughed loudly, amused and pleased at the same time by Terezi’s stance. She had been there for a while, moving from place to place, but rare were the times she had caught other spirits like her around, and they had all being little pathetic creatures with no spine and no guts, so much she had thought the afterlife would be an endless land of boredom… even with her little tricks on the living.

This might be the first time someone was rising to the challenge, and she would rejoice in the challenge, and then trounce the enemy to pieces.

“You don’t know who you’re talking to, little ghost,” she laughed, and the air around her crackled with power. The dice scattered on the table under her shook slightly. “Marquise Spinneret Mindfang is ready to show you your place, so you can bow to my magnificent self!”

Terezi’s grin was positively wicked. “What do you know, Senator Lemonsnout,” in the air at her side, her trusty scalemate flickered into view before disappearing into nothingness again. “I guess the Marquise needs a reminder of how she is not above the law, then, doesn’t she?”

She cracked her knuckles, and slowly unsheathed the blade from her cane. She had no idea what kind of damage a ghost blade could do to a ghost, but she was not above experimenting a bit.

***

One of Karkat’s classes in the early morning was possibly the one he hated the most, out of his entire curriculum of studies.

It was, at least, not a class he had to follow during Monday mornings, which was a small consolation for him, but that also meant he was growing to dislike Tuesdays mornings possibly just as much as he did Mondays, which was, unfortunately, a troubling situation.

Since his intentions were to begin working as a Threshecutioner by the time he finished with college, and that had been his idea ever since his hive schoolfeeding times back during grubhood, one of the first things Karkat had done was to put down a list of classes he would need to follow, and some that would make things easier for him once out of college, with the help of the mentor assigned to him by his Earth district of choice.

The troll had been rather patient –a brownblood with a particular predisposition for astrology– and had instantly explained him right away that the job of a threshecutioner was evolving steadily with times, and that while in the depths of space, away from both Alternia and Earth, the job still had around the same values as before the joining, for the rest of the civilized galaxy things were different now.

There were courses that included new information and behavioural methods, and there were classes which now had human input to them, which made the Threshecutioner job more complicated to get into unless one was truly interested, to weed out those who thought being one meant an easy job and an easy quiet career.

That also meant a few boring classes full of difficulties and terse mock-exams which demanded all of Karkat’s attention and sapped away his energies quickly. Tuesday morning’s Advanced BioHemochemistry and DNA structure comparability was one of these classes.

Hence Karkat’s annoyance at himself when in the middle of what looked like the most complex lecture of the month, he saw his trollian alert flashing on the lower edge of his husktop screen.

––– twinArmageddons [TA] began trolling carcinoGeneticist [CG] at 10:48 –––

TA: gue22 what  
TA: nepeta leiijon trolled me the other day a2kiin about you  
TA: ii don’t thiink we ever talked more than a couple tiimes2 even back then  
TA: we u2ed two FLARP a biit, once iin a while, but nothiin extreme, really. we never liiked the 2ame thiing2, even iif 2he triied to 2et me up wiith 2omeone once. niice giirl.  
CG: YEAH, I SAW HER THE OTHER DAY AT A CAFÉ. SHE FILLED UP A QUADRANT WITH A TALL BLUEBLOOD GUY, SEEMED TO BE WEAVING PALE FOR HIM PRETTY HARD.  
CG: I GUESS SHE JUST… SHE… DID NOT KNOW ABOUT… WELL, YOU KNOW. WE DIDN’T TALK FOR LONG.   
CG: I GUESS YOU TOLD HER THEN.   
TA: 2he 2ounded pretty worriied for you, KK.   
CG: …I KNOW. 

Karkat hesitated, staring at Sollux’s words for a moment.

This was not exactly the way he had wanted to start the day, and despite him having to split his attention between the professor and the trollian conversation, he was pleased that Sollux had contacted him nonetheless.

Before, Karkat wouldn’t have realised the meaning behind Sollux’s casual speech, the subtle poke, or he would have ignored it, but not anymore.

CG: I SPOKE WITH GAMZEE DURING THE WEEKEND. HE’S GOING TO SPEND HIS NEXT LEAVE WITH ME, AND WE’RE GOING TO TALK.    
TA: holy 2hiit on a 2tiick   
CG: YEAH, I KNOW. LOOK AT ME, FACING MY SHITTY RELATIONSHIP AND TRYING TO FIX IT. HOW MATURE OF ME. I MIGHT EVEN LEVEL UP A TIER HERE.    
TA: but 2eriiously, iim glad youre talkiing wiith gamz agaiin   
TA: ii heard he wa2n’t doiing that good eiither, not two long ago.    
CG: SHIT, HE’S TOO SOFT FOR THAT KIND OF TRAINING, I’M WORRIED ABOUT WHAT THEY WILL DO TO HIM IF HE DOESN’T CHOOSE ANOTHER DIVISION. I HEARD BAD THINGS ABOUT HIS SUPERVISOR SO I HOPE HE’LL TELL ME AT LEAST WHAT’S EATING HIM.    
CG: I THINK I’VE LEFT HIM HANGING ON HIS OWN FOR TOO LONG.    
TA: ii thiink he feel2 the 2ame, KK. 

Karkat rubbed the bridge of his nose.

He had no idea what he had done in this life or in any of his previous ones to earn the friendship of such a collection of wretched, splendid people, but he was glad they stuck around, waiting for the time he finally decided to start taking his head out of his ass.

They had allowed him the time he needed, but now that he was tentatively reaching out to them they were responding in kind, admitting their worry bit by bit now that they knew Karkat would not retreat again.

Part of him felt the same sort of sheer guilt for letting them down like that, but the road to recovery was long, and he was just glad they were still there for him.

CG: COLOUR ME SURPRISED THAT YOU ARE AWAKE AT SUCH AN EARLY HOUR OF THE MORNING

he typed instead, not wanting to address the matter any further for now but also unwilling to let Sollux leave yet. The professor was showing on the class projector a demonstrative video which was available online and he had seen on his own already, so he had a couple minutes to spare.

CG: I THOUGHT PRE-NOON ONLY EXISTED AS A NON PROVEN MYTH FOR PEOPLE LIKE YOU.    
TA: haha KK, really funny   
TA: of course iit ha2 been proven a2 a myth   
TA: that2 why iim not really there, iim ju2t an ATH~ viiru2 2ubroutiine created 2peciifiically two bother you hile you are iin cla22   
CG: I GUESS THAT EXPLAINS THE BULLSHIT WELL ENOUGH. SHIT, IF I WANTED TO BE BOTHERED DURING CLASS TIME I WOULD HAVE REPLIED TO THE MESSAGES STRIDER HAS LEFT ME FOR THE PAST FIFTEEN MINUTES IN HIS HOPELESS ATTEMPTS TO LURING ME INTO THE WORLD OF WEIRD YOUTUBE VIDEOS.    
TA: 2o he2 called 2triider, huh   
CG: WHAT   
CG: SOLLUX DON’T YOU DARE

***

––– twinArmageddons [TA] began trolling turntechGodhead [TG] at 10:55 –––

TA: hey   
TA: are you the guy who got KK two leave hii2 hiive on a friiday niight?    
TG: whos kk   
TG: on that note who are you

It had been a long while since Dave had received a message from someone who was not in his contacts, so the weird new font colour popping up on his phone was a novelty.

He was still stuck at home, unable to even follow his usual class for a few more days due to doctor restrictions and his inability to take notes with just one hand, so he was sprawled on the bed, dying of boredom.

Switching from his computer to the phone proved to be better for his typing speed, as he could reach all keys better with just a thumb as opposed to the size of the computer keyboard, but Karkat’s determination to ignore his messages during class was getting on his nerves.

Aradia was also absent from his chum list, probably because she had a job in the morning he wasn’t privy to, and that meant he was here all alone to suffer, so the appearance of someone wanting to talk with him was almost a godsend.

TA: iim KK’2 friiend. Karkat2 friiend.    
TG: oh, one of the elusive friends of karkats huh   
TG: i didnt think he had any tbh   
TG: well aside for his laptop and his romcom collection   
TG: and me   
TG: and here i thought i was special   
TG: karkat you meanie i thought i was the only weirdo in your life   
TA: hah, a2 iif   
TA: ju2t waiit tiill you meet hii2 moiiraiil   
TG: ill hold onto that and prepare myself to be outweirdo’d   
TA: you do that   
TA: ii don’t mean two pry but the a22wiipe ii2 my friiend 2o ii gue22 iit2 iin the job de2criiptiion   
TA: iit2 been hard two get hiim out of hii2 hiive for a long whiile   
TA: 2o joke2 a2iide ii ju2t wanted two 2ay thank you   
TA: ii thought you miight be an iin2ufferable priick con2iideriing KK2 ta2te2 iin friiend2 but youre not two bad   
TG: man, you don’t know me yet i could be the douchiest and most insufferable prick youve ever had the pleasure to meet, dont sweat it   
TG: but also theres nothing to thank me for.    
TG: karkat is a great guy, i like him and dragging him around benefits me first and foremost   
TG: im no saint here   
TG: but i did notice hes a bit of a recluse   
TA: that2 a miild way two 2ay iit   
TG: its not really my place to butt in because im just a new friend and whatnot, so i wont ask shit about him until hes ready to talk about it   
TG: im a prick but im not insensitive i promise   
TA: good two know   
TA: iill let you return two your ordiinary 2cheduled bullshiit then

––– twinArmageddons [TA] ceased trolling turntechGodhead [TG] at 11:02 –––

***

––– turntechGodhead [TG] began trolling carcinoGeneticist [CG] at 10:33 –––

TG: man im so bored   
TG: shit typing like this takes so long im switching to my phone   
TG: ah, there   
TG: better   
TG: took me one minute to type a greeting i forgot what a pain in the ass it is to break your arm   
TG: karkat   
TG: karkat im really bored   
TG: the internet is too wide i could get lost   
TG: will you explore with me   
TG: the depths of youtube hell?    
TG: I have seen things my friend that you wouldnt believe, lost under three second vines and political standings and guys marathoning horror games   
TG: let yourself be dragged down with me and well go down to history exploring the richest treasures of comment spams filled to the brim with spelling mistakes and offensive commentaries   
TG: let yourself fall Karkat my man   
TG: karkat im so bored please entertain me

~carcinoGeneticist [CG] is an idle troll~

TG: i see how it is

––– carcinoGeneticist [CG] began trolling turntechGodhead [TG] at 10:56 –––

CG: I SERIOUSLY CONSIDERED WHETHER ALLOWING YOU TO CONTINUE OR NOT, SINCE YOU SEEM FINE WITH TALKING TO YOURSELF, BUT A RECENT DEVELOPMENT FORTUNATELY REQUIRES ME TO IGNORE ALL THAT YOU TYPED UP UNTIL THIS MOMENT TO ADDRESS THE CURRENT SITUATION.    
CG: DAVE, YOU MIGHT RECEIVE A MESSAGE FROM ONE OF MY FRIENDS. YOU ARE ALLOWED TO COMPLETELY IGNORE IT AND IGNORE *HIM* AND GO YOUR MERRY WAY WITHOUT EVER SPEAKING TO HIM.    
CG: HE IS NOT A BAD TROLL. HE’S A GOOD FRIEND, ACTUALLY. BUT HE WORRIES TOO MUCH AND I WOULDN’T WANT THINGS TO GET WEIRD BECAUSE TWO OF MY FRIENDS START TO TALK BEHIND MY BACK.    
CG: NOT THAT I AM WORRIED ABOUT THAT, MIND YOU. I AM *TOTALLY* FINE.    
CG: JUST STAY AWAY FROM SOLLUX AND THINGS WILL GO SMOOTHLY.    
TG: man, no why   
TG: hes such a hilarious guy   
TG: i get why youre friends, i like him   
CG: OH GOD. 

Karkat wasn’t exactly sure why it would be bad for Sollux and Dave to become friends, although he supposed their interactions would be pretty amusing, but of one thing he was sure –they would drive _him_ mad.

Still, it did not seem like Sollux had said anything incriminating, which was a relief. He did not know why he felt so defensive over that, nor why the idea of Sollux telling Dave about Terezi made him feel suddenly anxious.

It wasn’t like it was a secret, even though he did not like to think about it. But Dave was a new friend, and he knew nothing of him, and… perhaps it was because of that, perhaps it was because things were fresh and different with Dave, that Karkat felt so at ease around him.

Maybe it was also because he didn’t have to always reassure Dave that he was fine (even though Karkat was now starting to admit to himself that maybe he was not as fine as he’d always thought he was), and that there were no expectations between them.

The idea of being honest about Terezi, about his loss… he wasn’t there yet. He couldn’t open that can of grubworms yet.

CG: BUT I HAVE TO GRUDGINGLY ADMIT THAT HE *IS* A GOOD FRIEND, SO AS FAR AS BEING HONEST WITH ANYONE BUT SOLLUX HIMSELF ABOUT THIS GOES, I ALSO LIKE THAT PISSGRUB.    
TG: you do realise that i am bored enough to entertain the idea of copypasting that to him right   
CG: STRIDER. DON’T YOU *DARE*.   
TG: i wont i wont but im really bored Karkat   
CG: DAVE. I UNDERSTAND. I REALLY DO. BUT I’M SERIOUS WHEN I SAY THIS CLASS IS IMPORTANT FOR ME, AND I NEED TO TAKE NOTES. ANY OTHER CLASS, AND I WOULD PERHAPS INDULGE YOU A BIT, BUT…   
CG: I’M SORRY, OK?    
CG: I’LL COME BY AFTER CLASS AND I’LL BRING YOU SOME TEA FROM THE CAFÉ YOU LIKE, IS THAT OK?    
TG: yeah   
TG: sorry karkat   
TG: youre the best

––– turntechGodhead [TG] ceased pestering carcinoGeneticist [CG] at 11:10 –––

Karkat felt instantly bad, but he hoped Dave understood anyway.

He couldn’t afford missing too much of this class, since he would need a good grade in the end-term exam to qualify for the master, and he had already lost enough of it already.

He sighed. Maybe he should have kept his trollian closed, and yet… it was a bit of a reassurance to keep it working in the background. He had just not expected them to pester him so much, that was all.

With a last guilty glance at the red text, and then at the yellow one belonging to Sollux, Karkat compromised and set his username as ‘busy’, finally giving his full focus to the lecture of the professor.

***

The sight that greeted Aradia when she arrived to the first floor was a room in complete disarray.

She had expected to find some mess, considering the things the owner of the casino had told her about the ghostly presence, but this was quite the unexpected sight.

One of the gaming tables had been broken in half, pushed to the side, and all the cards were scattered on the floor, together with a fair amount of fiches and golden coins.

The rows of chairs that had been previously neatly stacked into a corner were now everywhere, and most of them were, unfortunately, broken beyond repair, most of them smashed into pieces, and even some of the slot machines that had been until then quietly buzzing in a corner were making weird noises, and appeared to be broken.

“Well, seems like you didn’t need my arrival to make a petty tantrum,” she murmured into the air.

There was a flicker at her side, and then Terezi emerged from thin air, looking somewhat battered but otherwise fine.

“I think that might be partially my fault here!” she chuckled, not sounding repentant in the least. “The Marquise was far more vicious than I had expected her to!”

“The Marquise?”

“Yeah, I hadn’t expected you to hold your own though, swabbie… a surprising development!”

The ghost Terezi had called Marquise flickered into sight, just as battered as Terezi. She did not seem in the least pirate-y, aside maybe the eyepatch on her eye, but Aradia was used to antics from both the living and the dead, so she took everything in stride.

“Well then, Marquise–” she started, only to have the ghost snort.

“Marquise Spinneret Mindfang,” she replied snottily, but there was an amused smirk on her face, so Aradia smiled brightly at her.

“Marquise Mindfang,” she acquiesced. “I heard a lot about you! You sure know how to make an impression on some poor mortal humans who cannot even see your face!”

“Psh,” Mindfang snorted and landed on the ground, arms on her hips and a scornful grimace. “Bunch o’ wimps,” she scoffed. “Just cause the gamblers here didn’t notice doesn’t mean someone like me wouldn’t notice! The guy has been using cheating tricks to make sure those poor idiots never win. Those who do are being paid by him. Thought I’d stop by to even the field a bit!”

Aradia corked her head to the side. “Do you mean you’ve been aiding the patrons in keeping their money… and maybe some more than their share?” at the spirit’s noncommittal shrug, she smiled brightly. “I guess you’re not a bad ghost at all!”

Mindfang looked upset at that, as if hinting she was a good troll was an offense. “I have _all_ the luck, so it stands correct that I would dispense it to the unfortunate souls who were doomed to lose all their hard earned treasure in this place… not to mention real pirates were nothing like this shitty ensemble!”

Terezi cackled a bit at that.

She felt better than she had felt ever since… well, ever since death, really. Fighting with a ghost had helped her get a hold on the limits of her conscious and her powers, especially against one who had no qualms in using dirty methods to win... but Terezi also knew how to gamble and win, even if her only method was that of a single coin.

It had been a good fight, and part of her was grateful to have met such interesting troll after her death, and not before. That would have been such a loss.

“Well, but that poses a problem, Marquise,” Aradia continued, pressing a finger to her chin. “I am here to aid your passing over, if that is what you wish, and you seem to like sticking to this realm, like a certain ghost I know,” and with that, Aradia turned to wink at Terezi.

“Well of course I like it here!” Mindfang looked scandalized. “I have far too much fun to give it up now, and besides, I have no intention to embark on a journey across the seas just because some rascal thinks he can get rid of me, the Marquise!” she cracked her knuckles. “I think it might be about time to make him regret ever getting a medium to try and stop me!”

Aradia sighed deeply. “Please, I don’t want to come between you and a revenge you feel is entirely justified against someone with less than pure actions, but I’m doing just my job here! If you are not ready to cross over, I will not force you to, but perhaps you should reconsider wasting your time here…”

“It has been getting boring, until Miss sniffy pants appeared,” Mindfang admitted, looking almost chagrined. “A change in scenery might be appealing, but I’m fine where I am, at least for now! I’m not done here!”

Aradia and the Marquise stared at each other, neither willing to bulge, and then Aradia let out a theatrical sigh.

“Alas! I cannot do anything to force you, since you are not a malevolent spirit who has lost its conscious mind to its basic instincts! It seems like this time you win, devious Marquise!” she offered her a devious grin.

The Marquise was clearly baffled and taken aback by this victory handled to her without an actual fight, and she turned to look at Terezi in askance, but only received a twin grin from her that did not clear up anything.

Terezi shifted closer to the Marquise, and made a show of clearing her throat and acting pompous.

“My esteemed colleague here means that in this run for justice, you my friend are the sole victory, and the verdict is that whoever acted against justice will have to be punished! In this case, her client, the casino owner”.

Marquise’s visible eye widened in understanding, and then her lips twisted into a pleased smirk. “Weeeeeeeell, it seems like I found some pretty decent mates, who’d have thought?” She seemed to ponder something for a moment, then turned to look at Terezi. “Do you want to stick around and use the cool things you learned today to have some more fun?”

Terezi smiled gleefully, then looked at Aradia in askance.

“I’m not your lusus!” was the reply. “Though if you two keep FLARPing you will leave me no choice but to join in, and then that wouldn’t be fun, since I’m not a ghost!”

Terezi and Marquise chuckled together, then Terezi straightened her back. “Then I think that I, Redglare the Legislacerator, will take upon myself to make sure that Justice is served to those who deserve it!”

The Marquise seemed to perk up at Terezi’s words, and energy crackled around her like tiny little lightning bolts; she held out her fingers and collected a handful of translucent dice from the air, just as Terezi took a hold of her still unsheathed cane.

“I promise I’ll be a good ghost and will not harm anyone,” Terezi spared a glance at Aradia, who winked at her and once again did the double pistols sign.

“You have fun!”

Aradia observed the two incorporeal entities flicker out of the room. She had no idea the kind of ruckus that two of them could manage to create together, but one thing was clear –she would need to vacate the premises of the casino, and perhaps leave a friendly warning to the poor attendant boy and the cashier before leaving, since underpaid workers usually had nothing to do with their boss’ sucking money out of customers.

She had absolutely no intention to pick the side of the living simply because a ghost’s true calling was to leave this plane. In fact, a good Psychopomp knew when not to push, and for ghosts whose purpose wasn’t clear –the Marquise did not seem to have any leftover business to take care of, and was simply lingering to revel in her new ghostly status– passing over was not always the end-game.

The Marquise might have been a rowdy ghost, yes, but Aradia’s influence over ghosts meant they would be unable to lie to her, and that meant the Marquise’s words were true; if the casino was stealing money from paying clients, using their gambling addictions and hopes, well then. Aradia hated being lied to by the living, and it wasn’t such a hard choice to let the Marquise and Terezi have some fun.

Besides, the Marquise had obviously taught Terezi some tricks, and it would only do her new friend some good to learn how to interact a bit with the living world.

Aradia had to wonder whether Terezi would decide to reach out for Karkat if she learned how to do so, but then decided not to ponder over that; it was not her place, and besides she knew the answer already.

Thankfully for her, she had accepted to work with the casino owner under her own specifications, which she always made clear before coming to see a ghost –unless the spirit’s mind was lost in its grief and hatred, was unable to pass over, or simply was causing meaningless harm, Aradia would not force them away to please the living. That said, she had effectively washed her hands of the matter.

––– apocalypseArisen [AA] began trolling turntechGodhead [TG] at 11:42 –––

AA: i find myself having dealt with all the ruckus already! 0u0   
TG: good for you ara   
TG: anything interesting happened?    
AA: as i suspected! the gh0st didn’t want t0 leave and she had a g00d reas0n t00, s0 the j0b’s d0ne already!    
TG: think you can wrap things up and come here or   
AA: s0rry dave, i have t0 finish my shift and then im 0ff t0 class!    
TG: boo   
AA: hey!!! wh0 d0 y0u think will get y0u all the n0tes y0u need?    
TG: shit   
TG: yeah   
TG: my saviour   
TG: my maid of honour   
AA: much better! 0n0   
AA: hang in there! ♦

––– apocalypseArisen [AA] ceased trolling turntechGodhead [TG] at 11:50 –––

***

Breaking bones was, for all intents and purposes, a shitty experience.

Dave was forced to revaluate most of the things he otherwise had no trouble doing, since they were now forbidden to him due to his inability to use both hands.

Mixing tapes was hard when he only had one hand to work with, taking pictures was equally impossible because holding the camera with just one hand made them come out unbalanced and blurred, and working on his project for the end of the semester… he did not even want to think about it.

He’d need five more hands to even make a passable job at that, let alone just his two.

Indulging in some self-pleasure was also right out, because he was feeling grumpy and not in the mood.

Because of this, Dave felt like the only thing he could actually do was pester his friends or browse the internet, and even those options were slowly losing their appeal, because all his friends were either working or in class, and there was only so many pages of ‘not always right’ he could read before he started getting bored, and he exhausted all his lives on Facebook games far too quickly.

For a while he entertained the idea of picking up the next issue of one of his online projects, a webcomic called Sweet Bro and Hella Jeff, but his mind was blank and unable to come up with a single idea for a strip, so he had to renounce, huffing and closing MS Paint off with a pout.

His webcomic was, for lack of a better word, his ironic pride, born out of sheer irony and completely created using his non-dominant hand, which added a lot of wobbliness to the lines and the sloppy colouring. It was _perfect_.

The fans reading –it actually _had_ fans– seemed to consider it either the pinnacle of irony, an ode to the Irony Gods, or were really in love with its vulgar plotless story. He had often thought to set up a gift shop online, but there was a limit to how much involvement he wanted to have with it.

He had started drawing it a long while ago, at thirteen, and the site had since then evolved with three main plots, a spin-off and even a prequel with Bro and Jeff as kids. There were times Dave wondered whether he should just let it die discontinued in the depths of internet hell, but somehow he just could not let it go.

SBaHJ was his creature, and after so much time spent expanding its erratic, weird world, Dave had ended up loving it, and giving up on such an idea, especially with the prospect of actually selling gadgets to people, was simply not going to happen, no matter how sporadic the updates were nowadays.

Still, not even the wacky sight of his webcomic was enough to make him feel like working on it, so Dave ended up dropping his computer in a corner of the room and stationed himself in front of the television instead.

Sometimes it was ok to be lazy. He deserved it.

When the doorbell rang out of the blue, making him jump in fright at the sudden sound, Dave scrambled up from the couch and towards the door, starved for company enough that he would have let in whoever was at the door no matter what, even the Jehovah’s Witnesses or the Republican party or even the Church of the Mirthful Messiahs.

It turned out it was none of the above, because as he pulled the door open, he found himself facing a pair of triangular shaped shades and the familiar blank face of his own brother slouching against the door frame.

“Uh… Dirk?”

Dirk lifted one fist in greeting, and Dave automatically offered his own for the customary bump, then moved to the side so that Dirk could come inside, which he did without a word.

Dave observed his brother shuffle inside, and when he noticed him holding a duffle bag he was suddenly hit by a strong sense of déjà-vu.

“Umm…” he tried to find something to say that would not be incredibly tactless. “Did you have a fight with Jake again?” yes, so very tactful.

Dirk grunted and turned to look at him. “We did not have a fight,” he replied, sounding almost constipated, which meant they hadn’t had a fight, but they had found themselves not agreeing on something rather important.

Ok, Dave knew what to do.

“Good to see you,” he said, ignoring the elephant in the room and patting Dirk’s back with more strength than necessary. “You can crash on the sofa”.

“I still own a room in here,” Dirk reminded him.

Dave snickered. “If you can find the bed under all my props and shit, it’s yours bro”.

Dirk slid his shades down long enough for Dave to see him roll his eyes, then turned around and disappeared into the corridor. Dave heard a door open, and then Dirk came back.

“I’ll sort the mystery of the lost bed at a later time. Will you tell me what happened to your arm now, or should I pry into your private life enough to get Aradia to tell me instead?”

With a sigh, Dave moved past his brother and slumped back into his couch, studiously focusing his attention on the TV rather than on his brother.

“Nothing, really. Just some dumb shit”.

“Dave…”

With a sigh, Dave patted the couch, and Dirk acquiesced the request and came to sit at his side.

They had a lot to talk about, and his arm wasn’t really making the top, but Dave knew it would take a while to get Dirk to talk about himself.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Aah, if you want to drop me a review, I'll be really really happy! Writing makes me happy, but I admit reviews are always welcome and let me know if what I'm writing keeps my readers entertained too :)


	8. Chapter 08

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As promised, another chapter! Sorry for the pause again, but these holidays and stuff have been heavy :/ hope you like! (consider dropping a review too ;3)

**Chapter 08**

The bells on top of the tea house door tingled pleasantly as Karkat pushed the door open.

The smell of coffee and tea wafted around him, and he took a second to just breathe in and relax.

He had finished another day of courses, finally, and to keep his promise to Dave he had hurried over to the tea house to get him something; if he had to be honest, Karkat was not doing this because he felt bad. After all, he was sure Dave knew how much college meant to him, and he wouldn’t get sour just because he had denied him a chat over trollian.

Still, making a nice gesture for a friend when said friend had paid most of his sweets for over a week when they had just started getting to know each other was something Karkat could do, and he didn’t even have to think about it.

Karkat was perhaps too blind to things sometimes. He hadn’t noticed the way he had distanced himself from his friends until things had gotten so bad he couldn’t help but take notice, and there were still times he needed things spelled out to him or he would _not_ see them. That didn’t mean he was a bad friend, just an oblivious one, but he wasn’t _hopeless_.

There had been something weird in the way Dave spoke to him earlier, and maybe it was just Karkat’s mind making things up, or his desire to overcompensate things now that he knew he had been missing a lot, but he thought that if Dave was feeling off, then he could at least get him something, and it might cheer him up a bit.

“Good morning!” Aradia called out, loud and cheerful, and when she turned around and saw him her smile seemed to take over her face. “Karkat! Here for a post-college treat?”

“Hmm,” he nodded, moving towards the counter. “I want to bring something to Dave,” he said when Aradia glanced curiously at him, noticing he was not going to sit down. “So it’ll be a take-away”.

The bright, perhaps too happy smile on her face melted into something more mellow, but definitely just as warm, and she nodded, passing by him and nudging his shoulder in what he felt was a thank you. “Then let me suggest you the apple cake, it’s freshly made and–”

Her phone vibrated, the first few notes of a familiar movie tune alerting her that she’d just received a message, and she motioned for Karkat to wait as she flicked her grubphone out of her pocket and checked it.

She sighed. “Well, would you mind taking home something extra too? I’ll pay for it, but you’ll get there before I do since I have class after my shift,” she asked, and Karkat shrugged, not seeing a problem with that. “Thank you”.

She cut two pieces of apple cake, one for Dave and one for Karkat himself, then bagged it together with a single slice of orange and cinnamon cake, plus a small package of apple tea leaves and one of Karkat’s favourite coffee brand.

Karkat felt himself already looking forwards to drinking a cup of it.

“Here you go, thank you for your patience,” she said in her best work-voice, and Karkat snorted, moving to the counter where the blueblood owner was waiting for him, appearing just as on edge as always.

Karkat hadn’t found it in himself to offer more than a couple words of greeting towards the other troll, because as much as he was becoming a regular, he still had nothing to say to him, and he guessed the feeling was mutual, because every time Karkat glanced at him, the blueblood would hastily look away. Whether this meant he was shy or just not up for chitchat with clients, Karkat did not know.

He was about to pay, when the bells tingling alerted the three that a new customer was coming in; Karkat had a split second to notice the change in the blueblood’s face, a distinctive softening of his usual grimace, before Nepeta leaned over the counter at his side.

“Equius!” she greeted, and he stammered a bit, wringing a washing cloth in his hands and looking at Karkat, then at Aradia, then back at Nepeta. “What, not even a hello? I’m disappointed!”

Equius swallowed visibly, then hesitated, clearly not wanting to entertain his moirail with what he considered excessive PDA in front of a client and his employee, then slumped in defeat and offered her a small smile, brushing the strands of hair away from her face.

“Good morning, Nepeta,” he said, and Karkat was pleased to hear the warmth in his tone that he usually did not show to customers.

“Much better!” Nepeta grinned at him, then turned to look at Karkat. “Karkitty! I’m glad to see you!” her demeanour turned instantly more serious, and she straightened her back.

She looked like she wanted to say something, but then with a glance at Equius and Aradia she tugged Karkat’s arm, leading him away from them. He was grateful for this, because while Equius was Nepeta’s moirail, and would probably hear the story in the privacy of their pile, Aradia was just the friend of a friend, and Karkat didn’t want her to know yet, and definitely not like this.

Karkat waited for Nepeta to speak, allowing her some time to collect her thoughts.

“I’m sorry fur my invasive questions of the other day,” she fidgeted a bit, looking clearly upset. “I spoke with Sollux yesterday, so…” she trailed off.

“No, it’s… it’s ok, you just didn’t know,” feeling incredibly awkward, Karkat patted her arm, and apparently this prompted Nepeta to hug him tightly.

Karkat spluttered a bit, but then relaxed and hugged her back.

“I’m sorry for… I’m sorry for your loss, Karkat,” her voice wavered a bit, and Karkat remembered with a start that Terezi and Nepeta had been good friends, so finding out what happened like that, through a husktop and so long after it had happened, had probably shaken her quite a bit.

There wasn’t much he could say now, and talking about it was still as painful as before, but he had to be honest with her, since this was his fault, most of all.

He should have respected their friendship, and the friendship between Terezi and Nepeta, and he should have been the one to tell her back then, but… he had been too devastated, and it had been too painful to even think about it. He hadn’t thought about anyone else but himself, and only now was he starting to consider that Terezi’s death might have hurt others too, not just him.

Sollux had been her friend too, and there had been instances in the past, more than once, when he’d had his suspicions about them, how they seemed almost pale sometimes, but not quite there yet.

It still hurt now, but Karkat was starting to be able to think, and it made him worry, all of sudden, if he had been so busy being devastated about her loss that he had neglected to see how others could be hurt just the same as him.

“I’m sorry I didn’t… I should have told you,” he clenched his hands into fists, looking up at Nepeta’s face. “You were… you were friends, and it wasn’t right to not tell you, it’s just…” he stopped, feeling a painful lump in his throat that refused to go away. “I’m sorry Nepeta”.

She shook her head, tears in her eyes, and then hugged him again. This time he hugged her back with no hesitation, feeling another wave of pain hit him as he tried to keep himself together, feeling Nepeta trembling in his arms.

Aradia and Equius exchanged concerned glances, thought they both knew what this was about, even if they could not talk about it with each other.

Still, while Equius was worried about his moirail, and vaguely worried about the weird hemoanonymous troll who was becoming a good regular of the tea house, he knew better than to interfere in what was clearly a personal, private moment between friends.

He looked away, and busied himself with cleaning cups and plates and putting out a new cake already cut into slices on the display case.

There would be time later, after work, for a pile session, and to delicately hold Nepeta and allow her to talk to him, and talk about her lost friend, and reminisce. Now wasn’t the time for pale talks, this was different.

Aradia took a deep breath, and also looked away.

It was hard for her because she knew things she wasn’t supposed to know, but it was not her place to talk. Psychopomps did not exist to bring comfort to the living, because they could keep on living, and wounds would heal with time, and time was something they were allowed to have. Each person who was left behind would deal with their pain at their own pace.

No, Aradia’s power was to bring comfort to the souls who were stuck in a state where they could not go on. She was there for the departed, not those who were still breathing, and it was not her place to talk unless the living wanted to talk first, and reached out to her.

Though sometimes… sometimes it was hard to remember this.

Karkat was Dave’s friend, and she was positive that he was going to become her friend, too.

But this was not her place, and this was not her pain to understand.

After what felt like hours, Nepeta’s grip on Karkat lessened, and he let her go, watching her wipe away the tears from her cheeks and clear her throat, trying to compose herself.

“Thanks, Karkitty,” she told him, voice still unsteady. “I didn’t want to make a scene but I guess that’s what happened, heehee…” she sniffled, then smiled at him. “Are you… are you doing well?”

Karkat licked his dry lips and opened his mouth to speak, then closed it, then opened it again and ended up just shrugging. “I’m not really sure,” he admitted, and this was perhaps the first time he had been honest with that question since they had started asking it to him. “I thought I was doing ok, but I think it might take a while still to be really ok”.

Nepeta nodded, and grabbed his hand into hers. “I had to change my grubphone number beclaws I lost mine, but can I leave mew new one to you? I would love to talk with you again, Karkitty”.

“Yeah, sure,” Karkat looked to the side, scratching the back of his head. “I missed chatting with you too”.

After Nepeta scribbled her phone number into a small scrap of paper and gave it to him, she tugged him back into another short hug, and then Karkat left the tea house, feeling lighter than he had been since forever.

Seeing Nepeta again had done him good, and had strengthened his desire to continue on the path and learn to cope with his pain without letting it destroy his life.

The bag with the cake slices clutched to his chest, Karkat headed towards Dave’s house, wanting to see his friend and make sure he was fine, too.

***

Finding Dave’s house again was, thankfully, easier now that he’d been there in the middle of the day.

Karkat still had some trouble finding the right stop while on the bus, since it circled only the start of the street where Dave lived, but once he got off the bus it took him no time at all to get there, glancing up at the building to make sure he got it right.

The bag with the cakes had a delicious smell and it made Karkat hungry, so he hurried up the stairs to get to the door of the apartment, already looking forwards to sharing the sweets with Dave and check if he was fine.

He knocked on the door, lifting the bag up and preparing to shove it in Dave’s face, but the person who opened the door was, much to Karkat’s surprise, not Dave at all.

It was a tall guy with a particular resemblance to Dave, with different shades and differently styled hair, who, if he remembered well the photos he’d seen the previous day, was Dave’s older brother, Di-something. Dick, Dirk, Dike. Whichever.

Avoiding to look at him (although it was a bit difficult to be sure of that, since his shades were just as bad as Dave’s), Di-something held out his hand expectantly. “Dave,” he called out. “Did you order some take-out?”

“What? No!” Dave’s voice was coming from inside, and Karkat managed to recover enough to realise what was going on.

“I’m not… I’m not an errand boy,” he said quickly, keeping the bag of sweets away from Di Stri’s hands. “I’m a friend of Dave’s”.

Dave’s brother tilted his head slightly towards him, which told Karkat he was _possibly_ making almost eye-contact with him, and tried to keep his face blank and hide his annoyance.

“Sorry,” Di Stri said, shrugging a bit. “Come inside, please”.

Dave was sitting on the sofa with his computer on his legs, and was browsing something on it. When he heard Karkat’s voice he looked up, and smiled easily at him.

“Yo!” his eyes then zeroed on the bag Karkat was clutching to his chest, and he turned instantly into an overly excited five-years old. “You weren’t joking when you said you’d bring something! Karkat you’re my saviour!” he then glanced at his brother, reminded of his presence there. “Oh, uhh… Karkat, this is my brother Dirk. Dirk, that’s Karkat”.

Dirk had remained near the front door, looking weirdly tense, and Karkat wondered if he had a particular dislike for trolls or if there was something on him, or if he just disliked strangers.

Either way, Karkat himself was a bit put off by his presence in Dave’s house, and wasn’t sure whether he should stick around or excuse himself and leave.

Dave seemed to sense this, because he stood up and patted Karkat on the shoulder. “Thank you man, you’re my knight in shining armour… ooh man this is apple pie!” he rummaged into the bag while Karkat held it for him, and noticed the extra slice Aradia had put inside. “Oh nice, Ara got this too. Hey Dirk, don’t stay there like a statue, Ara’s got you a slice of orange cake”.

Dirk finally dislodged himself from the door and advanced cautiously towards Dave and Karkat, still keeping a bit of a distance from the latter, but by how tense he looked, and by the fact that Dave had a moirail, Karkat was pretty sure Dirk had nothing against trolls. This was probably something different.

“I’ll put up some water so we can consume this delicious snack my knight brought me in religious, awkward silence,” Dave proclaimed with a teasing smile.

“Let me do it,” Dirk said, then he grabbed the bag from Dave’s hand and hurried towards the kitchen, leaving Karkat and Dave alone in the sitting room.

Dave chuckled and shook his head, motioning for Karkat to come and sit down.

“Your brother seems…” Karkat tried to find something nice to say, but at Dave’s nudge he had to give up. “Just as much of a douchebag as I thought you were when I met you,” he finished.

His words made Dave laugh, and Karkat decided the truth was good enough if Dave wasn’t glaring at him for having insulted his brother. If that could even be considered an insult. He wasn’t sure himself.

“Nah, it’s fine man, Dirk is just… bad with people,” he shrugged. “He said he’ll stick by for a few days, so I hope you won’t mind having him around if you come to see me”.

“No, not really, I mean…” Karkat replied, still feeling awkward but not as much as before. “Isn’t this his house too? It’s just…”

“I know, I know, I was there when you were all stiff around John too,” Dave smirked, and Karkat looked away. “I’m glad you seemed to hit off easily with me and I can’t expect you to be friends with all my friends or my family. I know, Karkat. But I also don’t want you to _not_ come around just because my bro’s here, and bro wouldn’t like that either. That’s why I’m asking”.

Karkat didn’t know what to say.

His and Dave’s friendship was still somewhat new, and he had learned that Dave was a dork and that neither of them had any idea how to work around new friends –what were the limits, what they were allowed to say, or do– but they just winged it and it had worked out so far.

It still made Karkat happy to hear that Dave liked having him around, and he hoped Dave knew that Karkat felt the same. Having this friendship was doing a lot of good for him.

He was glad he had decided to stick around, feeling guilty for his shitty attitude, and that Dave had thought to offer him that coffee. It seemed such a bland, stupid thing done at random and now they were friends.

It felt a lot like one of Karkat’s movies, and he had to snort at himself for thinking that.

“Yeah, yeah, I get that, you massive dork,” he finally said, smiling indulgently at Dave who was now poking him in the arm with a finger. “It’ll be fine. As I said, if he ends up being just as much of a douchebag as you are, we might get along just fine”.

“I don’t know whether to be wounded by your words or happy,” Dave smiled brightly at him.

Their chatting was interrupted by Dirk returning into the sitting room with a tray holding all he cake slices and three cups, two with coffee and one with tea.

Karkat decided not to mention that he’d paid for the coffee Dirk had apparently used for himself, since he had failed to say that earlier and it would only make things awkward again, and that was not what he wanted. Plus, it was just a cup, after all.

“Thank you,” he said instead, finally locking on a safe subject. “Do you like this brand too?”

“… yeah, it’s the only thing that keeps me going sometimes,” Dirk admitted, voice carefully blank.

Well, Karkat was trying and at least Dave’s bro was answering him. He’d consider that a victory.

Small talk wasn’t exactly something he excelled at, but by the looks of it, Dirk sucked at it probably even more, and that _was_ some sort of consolation.

Dave attempted to push the conversation going with a whine about how he was the only one enjoying the apple tea, and that prompted a snort from both Karkat and Dirk, and then he tried to steal Karkat’s piece of cake.

“Don’t even try that, or you’ll find yourself unable to use either hand,” Karkat threatened, holding his fork inches away from Dave’s fingers.

Dave wisely chose to retreat.

“How… how did you two meet?”

The question took Karkat by surprise, as by then he had not expected Dirk to make small talk first, and for a moment he was left speechless, so Dave supplied for him.

“He insulted me and I had to make him leave the bakery,” he said happily, making Karkat blush and Dirk twist his head to stare at him.

“Uh… it’s not as bad as it sounds, really,” he tried to excuse himself, lifting both hand in surrender. “I had a bad morning, alright? And I made it up by buying Dave some coffee”.

“ _Bad_ coffee. Starbucks coffee Dirk, he tried to _poison_ me with that shit!”

“Dave, you’re _not_ helping”.

Dave chuckled, and Karkat punched him (very gently) on the shoulder.

“No, but really, he stood out in the cold until I left the bakery to say he was sorry–” Karkat seemed to be grateful for that, until he added “just like my personal stalker! Ok, ok, I’m joking jeez don’t look at me like that”.

Karkat groaned and hid his face in his hands, lamenting the way Dave was talking about him to his brother.

“I swear I am not a fucking stalker,” he grumbled from his hiding spot. “If anything, Dave kidnapped me and brought me to his tea house and paid for my coffee, so technically he’s the dubious one in this story…”

Dave snorted.

“Duly noted,” Dirk said, and Karkat peeked up at him, and was relieved to see there was a small grin –almost invisible, but it was _there_ – on his lips. So he did what any other person would have done.

“Oh, so you are not an emotionless droid pretending to be Dave’s brother. That’s nice to know”.

Both Dave and Dirk turned to look at him, and Karkat had to admit they looked kind of eerie like that, with similar blank expressions and shades even inside a house.

“Nah,” Dirk finally replied. “I have been built in a satisfactory manner, and as such I am quite capable of showing a certain range of human emotions in case they are needed”.

Karkat was once again taken aback, but went in stride with it and smirked. “Oh, you are also capable of passable jokes, colour me impressed”.

After that, Karkat felt a bit less awkward, and a glance at Dirk told him that Dave’s brother also was feeling less tense, because despite not being able to look at his face, he did seem more relaxed, which Karkat was ok with.

Considering Dave was the one who wanted to be entertained, he had been rather good at mediating between Karkat and Dirk, and both were grateful for that.

Dirk and Dave had more in common than just wearing similar shades at all times; Dirk was no people person, and he had never been one. He had trouble making conversations with people who were not part of his small circle of friends, and in that he was quite similar to Dave. The main difference between the two of them was that Dave could easily interact with others who weren’t his friends, was more outgoing even though he did not form friendships easily, and his desire for outside interactions was restricted to a limited amount of time, after which he would retire to entertain himself with things that didn’t require him to have to talk to anyone who wasn’t his friend. Dirk was more reclusive, preferred to keep to himself most of the time, and only liked to talk with the few people he formed bonds with, whereas interaction with anyone else only happened if there was no other choice, and it usually had him being stiff and wary for the duration of the casual conversations.

This was also part of the problem with his boyfriend, since Dirk had started out as friends with Jake English when they both had been around thirteen of age. They were close and had always been, probably as close as Dave and John were, but then they had turned out even closer, until they had started going out.

Dave was the first to see how this could be a problem for someone like Dirk, who did not make friends easily, if at all, especially considering how Jake was an outgoing, outspoken and chatty person who easily befriended anyone and everyone.

Whenever Dirk and Jake had problems, Dirk could only ever talk with Roxy, Jane or Dave himself about it, when before he had been able to talk with Jake just as well. Jake being half of the problem made things only harder for both of them.

The fact that Dirk was actually willing to talk with Karkat, even if only with a couple phrases, meant a lot to Dave; it showed how Dirk valued Dave’s new friendship, and that he was trying just for him. That was a lot, and Dave really appreciated it. He’d have to make sure Dirk understood this.

With nothing else to do, and considering Dirk’s particular attitude towards strangers, Dave decided that the best thing they could do was actually engage in an activity that would keep all three of them satisfied; he picked up an old Monopoly game board from a cupboard, almost spilling everything inside as he tried to clumsily hold the box with his one good hand and sneezing as he tried to blow the dust off its surface, and dropped it on the ground in front of both Dirk and Karkat, eliciting a disbelieving reaction from both of them.

“Seriously? _Dave_ ”.

“I don’t want to sound annoying, but are you entirely sure? I never lost at this game,” Karkat said, giving himself an important air. Empiropoly –the troll version of Monopoly– was one of the non-computer games he could play without trouble.

Dirk glanced over at him then sat down in front of the board, clearly determined to prove Karkat wrong.

“It seems the game’s on”.

Openly proud of his idea, Dave sat down as well and patted the ground, looking up at Karkat until he also slumped down.

At first, Dave and Dirk fought over the same piece, quietly glaring at one another for the mushroom until Karkat went ahead and got it for himself, smirking at both douchebag Striders and daring them to say something. Dave picked the candle, grumbling and muttering to himself, and Dirk chose the dubious-looking wine flask.

What followed was what Dave would later recall being the most intense game of Monopoly he’d ever cheated at, and despite not having to talk much, Dirk quietly buying territories and Karkat slowly building hotels in his own, the game moved past friendly and down into deranged territory so quickly he barely saw it happening.

Thankfully for Dave’s sanity, Aradia arrived only a couple hours later, bright and cheerful and particularly satisfied with herself, a notebook with the notes Dave needed for class tucked neatly in her bag, together with an USB pen with all the slides already downloaded.

Her arrival seemed to diffuse the Monopoly bomb as the three stopped playing to greet her, and Dave shuffled the pieces back into its box as soon as Dirk and Karkat weren’t looking. Danger successfully avoided.

Aradia’s arrival seemed to also sparkle up more vitality in Dirk, much to Karkat’s relief, since he felt a little bad for his inability to keep a conversation going with him even while playing together, and with Aradia and Dirk chatting about one thing and another, Dave tugged Karkat on the side.

“Sorry for springing this on you,” Dave told him cracking his neck and nudging Karkat for a fist bump, which Karkat obliged for once.

“I said it’s fine, he’s not a bad person. So is he… you know…” Karkat hoped Dave would remember their conversation from the previous day without him having to be too obvious about it.

“Hmhm,” Dave sighed. “It will be fine, they are always fine in the end”.

“You look worried anyway,” Karkat poked him in the ribs. “Or is that about something else? You seem a bit off”.

Dave glanced over at him, stiffening a bit, and Karkat realised he had been right all along; something was up, but Dave was clearly debating whether to be honest with him or just brush it off.

“It’s nothing, really,” he assured his friend. “It’s an old thing, nothing bad. It’s stupid, but broken bones bring up shitty memories, that’s all”.

Karkat swallowed and nodded, appreciating Dave’s words but allowing him to keep his privacy; after all, he also had painful things to remember, and he didn’t even need a broken arm to go back to that sort of pain.

“Just… I know this is moirail territory, but as your friend let me at least tell you that you can come to me if you need to vent or some shit like that,” Karkat told him, looking through those damnable shades of his to convey his determination.

“… ok, Vantas, ok, I get it. Thank you”.

They shared a knowing grin, then Karkat shuffled a bit. “I should go back to my hive now,” he said, somewhat grudgingly. “I have some work to do for my classes”.

“Aw, I hoped you’d stick around longer,” Dave whined, but he knew he couldn’t say anything. “You’re going to leave me here with my boring brother?”

“Hey! I was going to stay too but if you don’t even consider me maybe I should also leave!” Aradia gave him a glare from where she had been chatting with Dirk, who quirked his lips in a disappointed grimace at being called boring.

Dave opened his mouth, “I–”

“But no, really, I also have to go, sorry Dave,” she seemed incredibly sheepish. “I promised a friend I would see them tonight, we’re going out to the movies!”

At Dave’s crestfallen expression, both Karkat and Aradia cringed, but there wasn’t much they could do.

“Yeah, leave me here with my butt-bro,” he muttered, but when Dirk seemed to glare at him, he offered him a small smirk. “It’s ok, Dirk. We all knew you were one”.

Aradia offered him a hug, and Karkat supplied another fist bump before they left the apartment together, leaving the two brothers to their devices.

“Even if it doesn’t seem so, Dirk is a chatty person when he is comfortable,” Aradia told Karkat as they both walked away from Dave’s apartment, smiling a bit. “It just takes a bit!”

Karkat snorted, then hesitated. He wanted to ask if Aradia was also ok, but felt like it was not his place to do so.

“Are you doing ok, Karkat?”

It seemed like Aradia had wanted to ask him the same question, and that made him snort before he remembered she had seen him and Nepeta in the shop, and he sobered up instantly; seeing Dave and having fun with him had helped him cheer up even more after his talk with Nepeta, and he had expected Aradia’s casual question to send him back into turmoil, but… it didn’t happen.

He’d spent a few hours having fun, and he had talked about… about Terezi –her name still hurt, but not thinking about her hurt _more_ – and… and he still felt ok. Not good, but not bad either. He felt ok, even after this reminder.

He was not sure how to take this, so he focused on Aradia once again.

“I could feel better,” he admitted with a shrug. “But… what you saw today. It was something I should have done a long time ago. And… please,” he looked at her, raw and pleading. “Don’t say anything of this to Dave. I… I know I shouldn’t ask you that, especially if you feel you should mention it in a pile session, but…”

“No, no! I understand! I wouldn’t feel good telling Dave about something that was clearly so private! It’s not something that should be shared by someone who is not you, Karkat,” she told him, nudging his shoulder gently. “You’re Dave’s friend, and I hope that you might come to consider me a friend soon, but either way there are a lot of things that you can’t tell others, even if you feel bad keeping them for yourself, so… it’s ok! I promise I won’t tell Dave you almost cried hugging his FLARP-mate!”

She flashed him a smile, as warm as a cup of coffee (and shit, Karkat’s brain was suddenly reminded that he’d left his coffee at Dave’s house, and he cursed at himself for the loss), warm like one of Terezi’s smiles back when she was still alive, with a hit of smug amusement, and complicity, and he felt a lump in his throat once again, even if only for a single moment.

There would never be a time when he would not miss her, or see her in someone else’s face, or reflected in a mirror as he passed by. She was always at his side in his blood pusher, and a part of him felt like it would be impossible to ever forget her, or even let her go, but he knew, his rational part _knew_ , that one day he would at least feel at ease with his loss, and he would be able to remember her without ache.

It was just that the path he had to walk until then still made his insides ache with the lack of her presence, like the burning feeling in his lungs if he swam for too long without resurfacing to breathe.

“I…” he cleared his throat, and smiled at her, not sure what to say. He settled for a simple “Yeah, thank you”.

They kept walking down the street, both having to take the same bus, and since every seat was taken they both remained standing, awkwardly waiting for their respective stops and exchanging some small talk.

Aradia’s stop was the first to come, so she signalled it to the driver with the stop-button and then tapped Karkat on the shoulder. “I’ll see you soon, Karkat! Take care!”

“Ah, you too!” he waved at her.

As she was getting off the bus, she seemed to bump into someone, and they both sheepishly called out a sorry before the person hurried into the bus, and Karkat’s eyes widened as he recognised him.

Tall, thin and wiry was the only way someone could describe Sollux Captor, 10 sweeps old, located somewhere in the lower side of the hemospectrum. Another word could be mutant, which was a trait he unknowingly shared with Karkat, but his was a mutation that was actually useful and pretty coveted in their world, so their experiences had been rather different.

Sollux was a psiioniic user, trained since childhood in the use of his powers in case his talents were to be called forth by the Empress on her fleet, and despite the ease he seemed to have with his powers, Sollux had been totally uninterested in this possible future job application, focusing instead on learning how to use husktops and how to break them using codes, programming and viruses.

That was his vocation, and that was what he was _good_ at, and why he was already working as an independent hacker while finishing his studies as a programmeviscerator.

It had been a while since he’d last seen him in person, and the only thing Karkat could think was ‘holy hell’.

“Sollux? What the hell are you doing in this part of the city?”

Sollux turned to look at him, and the bus started moving again, almost sending Sollux sprawled into the floor; he managed to hold himself up with a flare of his psiioniics, and Karkat cursed under his breath.

“Shit, learn how to stand you asshat,” he grunted, moving towards his friend.

Sollux snickered, releasing his powers and grabbing one of the handles above him to keep himself steady.

“ _Thhit_ KK, I’m tho glad to thee you!”

Karkat snorted into his hand; he’d forgotten how pronounced Sollux’s lisp was and how much of a douchebag he sounded all the time. Gods, he’d missed this annoying bastard _so much_.

He was overwhelmed by the fact that he was actually seeing his friend, as opposed to talking to him through a husktop, and he allowed himself to relate this feeling with a series of low, clicking noises.

“Geez, didn’t know you were mithhing me tho much KK,” he said, but then he leaned forwards and punched Karkat on the shoulder, strong enough that it left an ache in the spot he hit, and Karkat did the same, actually managing to shove Sollux backwards.

“Shit, did you manage to lose weight?” Karkat observed his friend with critical eyes, noticing his thin frame and his long, dangly limbs. “I didn’t think there was any fat left for you to shed in your pathetic reclusive behavioural patterns, but I guess I was wrong”.

Sollux actually seemed sheepish at that, which made Karkat groan.

“I wath going to get thomething to eat after I finithed the job,” he assured, though Karkat was quite sure he would have forgotten, and just grabbed whatever was on hand when back at his hive. The asshole. “I wath fixing a huthktop in thith area. Where were you?”

“I just left Dave’s house, the idiot went and broke his arm doing some shitty excavation or something, so I had to make sure he wasn’t choking on his cast,” Karkat shrugged, then blinked when Sollux’s smirk seemed to grow. “What?”

“Nothing, jutht thurprithed to thee you outthide, that’th all”.

“Can the glee, I can feel it rolling off you like the smug bulgesucker you are,” Karkat grunted, turning his head to the side and pretending to ignore Sollux, who whined deep inside his throat. “Let’s just ignore how you’re just as much a recluse as I was, and you are unrepentant too. I am changing, so it’s obvious I’m the superior one here”.

Sollux snorted, the clipped chirrups and clicks of his laughter so loud a few of the people around them turned around to glance at him, not sure what the reason for his mirth was.

“You win thith one, KK”.

Karkat hesitated for a moment; he had a lot of stuff to do for his class, review his notes and continue with the project scheduled for his end-term test, but he’d missed seeing Sollux in person…

“Hey, grubchum, do you want to come over to my hive? If you can waste some time until dinner so I can review my notes, we can hang out afterwards”.

Sollux blinked, then smiled, losing the smug edges to a softer, nicer grin. “Thure,” he replied. “I have never theen your hive after all, and I can check if you’ve done the upgradeth I told you to do”.

Karkat coughed into his hand and looked away, and Sollux rolled his eyes.

“Yeah, I thought tho”.

***

––– tentacleTherapist [TT] began trolling turntechGodhead [TG] at 18:32 –––

  
TT: So you mean to say that Dirk has decided to reside into your shared apartment once again?    
TG: yeah   
TT: You seem quite calm, considering your private haven as a single bachelor has been at once disrupted by our dear older brother.    
TG: nah   
TG: i mean i am   
TT: Wow, Dave. Your eloquence today has shaken me into a revered silence.    
TT: It also brings me to wonder if you are perhaps otherwise occupied, or even, maybe, focused on something else at the moment, considering your less than stellar conversational skills today.    
TT: Should I allow myself the pleasure of showing some sort of sisterly worry over your lack of response?    


––– timaeusTestified [TT] has joined the conversation! –––

  
TT: I am by no means wishing to disrupt this idyllic congregation happening between two family members, but I will have to butt in for your own good, Dave.   
TG: what the f  
TT: Oh yes, that is something I was dearly missing, the coming together of almost all of our precious family in a single conversation chat. The emotion I feel could only ever be topped by having Roxy appear from the void that has surrounded her life at this particular moment.   
TT: That is, making her presence known and finally disclosing her exact whereabouts at the moment would indeed make me feel much joy. 

Dave grunted. If Dirk hadn’t just butted in, and he was pretty sure he knew why he was there, he could have told Rose exactly where Roxy was.

While Roxy was keeping herself scarce, it was for a good reason, and not one Dave wanted to divulge without Roxy’s permission; the only reason he knew, and Dirk and Rose did not, was because he’d overheard Jane talking about it, and he had been roped into the conversation after that.

Roxy had always had trouble with drinking a little bit too much, though never so much that it would impair her capability to study and work and think, but lately she had decided to quit, and had decided to start following a rehabilitation group, because despite the moderate intake of alcohol, it was hard and they offered the right amount of help without judging; she wanted to be able to do it all on her own and thus surprise her family afterwards, because it was no secret she liked to indulge. They had never thought any less of her for that, despite Rose’s open dislike for alcohol, but this was all about Roxy and it was her choice about herself, so Dave kept silent and never mentioned that he knew to anybody, including Roxy herself the few times she had called him.

That aside, Dave was somewhat annoyed by Dirk’s sudden appearance.

His brother should have been under the shower, so he had no idea why he was online. He had chosen to get on pesterchum at this time to talk with Rose exactly because Dirk wasn’t available. Damn it.

Even more so, how had Dirk managed to join in the conversation already happening on his own?

“Dirk!” he called out from the sitting room.

As expected, Dirk completely ignored him.

TT: If I hadn’t happened to decide this was the right moment to take a deserved break from sharing my current housing situation with my boyfriend and return to the apartment I had originally rented with my brother, I would have never found out on my own.  
TT: I am sure you are aware of how cagey Dave is with certain things. Such as new friends, perhaps.   
TT: Yes, I’m aware of his disdain and reluctance to share facts of his personal life with his family, no matter how insistent we all are about his wellbeing and general health situation.   
TT: Are you implying something has happened to him and that we weren’t informed?   
TG: oi im here you know  
TG: no need to talk like im nonexistent, like a unicorn or roses respect for my privacy  
TG: which have the same standing in front of a council of busy scientists  
TG: which is to say they dont exist  
TG: nothing happened to me  
TT: Exactly, nothing has happened to him. Save maybe an impacted fracture in the radius bone of his dominant arm, which required a cast of a perplexingly bright shade of phosphorescent pink, promptly desecrated with crude art.   
TT: I’m sorry, I must have misread.   
TT: Did you just say Dave has somehow managed to procure himself a broken bone?   
TG: its not as bad as it sounds really  
TT: Yes, which is precisely the reason you haven’t fessed up about it with us, but I had to find out on my own when I arrived at our apartment.   
TT: Dave.   
TG: i swear its not as bad as he makes it to be  
TG: the doctor told me itll be quick to heal  
TG: just a few weeks and ill be fine, really  
TG: i didnt think i needed to tell you about this because i know how youd react to it  
TT: Which is precisely why you should have told us! I know you think you can handle this on your own, but that does not mean we shouldn’t be alerted if you’re hurt, Dave.   
TT: We’re family.   
TG: you arent going to quote something shitty now right  
TT: We are ohana. Ohana means family.   
TG: oh shut it  
TG: i knew i shouldnt have given you that dvd  
TT: Yes, exactly. We are a giant family of siblings and an alien.   
TT: Citation secured.   
TT: Now, as to return to the subject at hand… I have booked a flight so you can expect me by tomorrow afternoon. I will require a place to sleep, and I presume your couch will be adequate for my needs.   
TG: what

Dave actually said that out loud, completely baffled. “What?”

TG: no wait   
TG: you really dont need to come   
TG: im completely fine and i   
TG: this isnt easy to say please allow me a second   
TG: urgh   
TG: i have dirk here already   
TG: hes enough you dont need to bother   
TG: rose please   
TT: Dave, Dirk might be even a relatively secure, helpful presence…   
TT: Thank you.   
TT: But I think it is within my rights to come see my brother when I hear he’s hurt.    
TG: urgh. fine   
TT: Thank you for your kind consideration. Please feel free to prepare for my smothering affections upon my arrival.    
TG: i will make sure to not be there   
TT: With that out of the way, I will leave you two to your conversation. Rose, I’ll see you tomorrow.    
TT: Bye Dirk. It will be nice to see you just as well. 

Dave grunted.

This was part of the reason why he hadn’t wanted his family to find out about his broken arm. They were rather protective, but Dave could easily take care of himself, even without being able to use one arm. There was Aradia, after all, and Karkat’s pleasant company too.

Still, the idea of actually seeing Rose wasn’t really unpleasant. He had missed his twin, and having two of his relatives out of three was going to be a blast. Hopefully.

Oh well, at least he knew Rose wouldn’t get on his case for too long… not if she had Dirk around, especially a Dirk who was keeping his distance from Jake.

Yes, that would make for a very interesting week.


End file.
